Inner Demons
by Blackgryphon21
Summary: A sequel to my previous story Guilty Hearts in that it takes place immediately after. Based on the questions: What would Raven's version of Slade be? And can evil be justified if a good person does it? Very dark at times. PT 7: Mitigation is up.
1. Problem Definition

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters mentioned in this chapter, they belong to WB and DC. I borrowed one of my own for later, but he's not mentioned yet.  
  
Notes: A Prologue to my new story which is a sequel, of sorts, to Guilty Hearts. Its centered around the idea of a person who is to Raven what Slade is to Robin and what choices she'd make in that situation. Enjoy.  
  
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Prologue: Problem Definition  
  
I am Raven, a member of the Teen Titans. I carry inside of me a shard of my father, an archdemon named Trigon. How I was conceived is not something my mother talks much about, I only know that it was unintentional. I prefer not to think about what she went through.  
I keep the shard buried deep inside of my mind. I'm afraid of what'll happen if it gets loose. It did once before and I almost killed a man. With the help of my friends, I-  
  
"This is starting to sound like a soap opera." Raven said with a touch of self-disgust as she closed the book on the journal entry she was writing. She didn't know why she was writing in the journal Starfire had given her. Starfire had learned from TV that all teenage girls need diaries, then after buying them had to ask Robin what they were for. Before today, Raven hadn't even opened the book, but now she was anxious.  
  
Bored, she told herself, you don't get anxious. She looked at the clock, it was just past seven o'clock. In about half an hour, Beast Boy and Cyborg would be up.  
Three hours earlier, she had discovered Robin and Starfire in bed together, fully clothed and without an impure thought in their heads (She could sense emotions, so she knew this for a fact). However, there was a bet as to how long it would take for them to get together, and Cyborg had gained a month's worth of chores for losing it.  
Part of her wanted to be there to see what happened when Starfire and Robin walked out of his bedroom together, but another part told her that she didn't care. Raven was afraid of losing control of her emotions, which would result in her powers running rampant.  
Despite all that, she really did want to see the look on Cyborg's face.  
Glancing at the clock again, she called it curiosity and went to wait in the living room.  
It turned out to be just as boring here as in her room. Half and hour later, Beast Boy walked in to find her napping on the crescent couch.  
  
"Hey," He said, poking her into consciousness, "Raven, wake up."  
Raven groaned: Beast Boy's face at two inches was not something pleasant to wake up to. "What?" She asked, sitting up.  
"You want eggs for breakfast?" He asked, smiling.  
She sighed again, "Tofu?" Nod. "We've been over this. I don't eat fake meat."  
"Morning, Y'all!" Cyborg said as he walked in through the huge double door. Raven groaned again, they were both far too chipper first thing in the morning. The big, young man looked at where Beast Boy had set out the ingredients for his all tofu breakfast and scowled. "Hey! Keep your little green butt out of the kitchen. I'm making breakfast."  
Beast Boy left the now forgotten Raven to defend his meal in the kitchen. "No way you're making it, you'll make real eggs!"  
"Of course I'll make real eggs. Why wouldn't I?"  
Raven blanked out most of the rest of the conversion, such as it was. They had this argument every time they were near food together, and it had long ago gotten old. Somehow, she had the feeling that they were enjoying themselves, so she let it go.  
She ended up lying back down on the couch, not that she could sleep with the ruckus in the other room, but it was more comfortable.  
"If it has the word 'Soy' in it anywhere, I won't eat it." Cyborg said gruffly, "Alright then, Robin, what do you think?" Her ears perked at that, not that she cared about the outcome. Everyone knew that Robin couldn't care less which it was, he could eat anything. He'd even managed to eat some of Starfire's intentionally vile pudding of sadness, or whatever the heck she called it. What Raven was interested in, was what would come next: "Hey, he's not up yet!"  
Beast Boy shook his head, the old argument forgotten, temporarily "No way. He's been up and went somewhere, he never sleeps in."  
Cyborg shook his head, "Nah, he'd have left a note or something. Hang on." Cyborg poked at his forearm and looked at the display that came up on it. "No, his tracking beacon is in his room, and he never goes anywhere without it."  
"Ha!" Beast Boy laughed for effect, "Looks like the Wonder Boy's finally lost his edge."  
"Hey," Cyborg admonished his friend, "He's been through a lot lately, cut him some slack."  
Beast Boy stopped immediately and looked guiltily at the ground, "Yeah." Was all he said.  
Cyborg started back toward the double door, "I'm gonna get him up," He looked back with a smirk, "Then I'm gonna make us some real eggs."  
Unable to resist, Raven sat up. Robin's door could be seen from the couch, so she didn't have to move to see what would happen.  
When he got there, Cyborg gently knocked on the door, but got no answer, "Hey, Robin," He called in, "We're making breakfast, you want some?" Still no answer. "Robin?" He called out louder.  
He shrugged toward where Raven and now Beast Boy were watching him. Raven realized too late what he meant to do and couldn't speak fast enough to stop him from hitting the door button. His eyes narrowed, then went wide, then were covered as he slammed a large metal hand across them.  
"Oh God! I'm sorry!" He cried out as he blindly fumbled for the door button, repeating "I'm sorry!" over and over until he found it and the door slid home. He stumbled back and slid down against the opposite wall, his hand still over his eyes.  
Raven said nothing and Beast Boy was simply confused. Before he could ask, and less than thirty seconds after the door had opened the first time, it opened again and Robin and Starfire stepped out.  
Cyborg uncovered his eyes, slowly. "I'm sorry," He said again, "I didn't know you and she." An eyebrow shot up, "How'd you two get dressed so fast?"  
Starfire, ever innocent, looked at Robin briefly, then asked, "Why would we have been unclothed?"  
Cyborg just gawked, "Weren't you two sleeping together?"  
"We were." She said, smiling happily, still oblivious.  
"Fully clothed?"  
"Well," She said thoughtfully, "We were without footwear." They were, indeed, barefoot. While thousands of scenarios visibly ran through Cyborg's head, Starfire turned to her boyfriend, who was trying not to laugh. "Robin, is this more of the euphemism of which you spoke last night?"  
"Yeah Star, it is." Robin said, still trying to contain himself.  
The redhead looked at where Cyborg was on the verge of an overload, "What does it mean?"  
Robin thought about it, then whispered the meaning into the girl's ear. The whispering was purely for her benefit, Robin knew Starfire well enough to know that she wouldn't appreciate having something like that blurted out.  
When she had her answer, she gasped, one hand over her mouth, stepped back, blanched, then blushed a lovely shade of scarlet that complemented her hair nicely. Starfire may have been innocent and ignorant, but she wasn't stupid; she knew how many times she'd thrown that expression around in the last few hours.  
She looked sheepishly at Robin, still blushing, stooped over and wringing her hands in front of herself. "I am sorry, I did not realize." She was remembering his reaction to her asking Robin to sleep with her the night before.  
"Hey, its okay, Star." Robin said gently before gathering her into his arms, Starfire moved leaned into him.  
"Okay you two," Cyborg said, standing up and taking on his normal personality, "We're gonna to have a talk on PDAs later, but for now. . ." He pushed the two bodily back into Robin's room and shut the door.  
He turned and walked back down the hallway toward the living room. From where she still sat, Raven could see a small smile on his face, which disappeared instantly when he saw Beast Boy.  
The green boy just stood there, a grin on his face that should have split his head in two. It was directed straight at Cyborg. Cyborg looked at him for a few seconds. "Ah man!" The larger boy cried out suddenly. "Come on!" Beast Boy, somehow, grinned wider. "Alright, alright, Fine! Just stop that!" Beast Boy kept grinning.  
Raven managed to keep from smiling, but only just.  
Cyborg forced himself to take deep breaths to calm down. He left Beast Boy where he was, and flopped down beside Raven on the couch. When he reached for the controller for the Gamestation, Raven got up; deciding that she really should help out Beast Boy with making their breakfast.  
"Maybe I can beat my old score." Cyborg said, more or less to himself. "Ah, no, no, no. . ." He was almost sobbing.  
"Raven? " Beast Boy laughed, looking over. "Raven beat your 'I'm the absolute greatest' score?"  
Over by a table, or more to the point, leaning heavily on the table, Raven was trying very hard to hold her emotions back and not laugh. She failed and immediately regretted it. As soon as she let go, a pencil that happened to be on the table rattled slightly, then shot forward at supersonic speed in whatever, indiscriminant direction it had happened to be pointing.  
As luck would have it, it happened to be pointed at a window, which offered little to no resistance. Neither did the unfortunate bird that happened to be flying by at that moment. They lost sight of the pencil somewhere over the water.  
Raven watched, ashen faced, as the still warm carcass of the bird fell unchecked to the ground, blood streaming from the hole through its torso. A barely audible thud echoed deafeningly in her ears when it finally hit.  
She didn't need to see them; she could feel the looks of the two boys on the back of her head. "I need to be alone." She muttered as she half walked, half ran to her bedroom.  
The familiar darkness of her room embraced her as the door slid shut behind her. Loss of control was not something she could afford. She needed to find it again, and there was only one way to do that: Her mirror.  
  
With it, she could travel into her own mind and interact with the various facets of her personality. One of them was the shard of her father. Using the mirror she had been able to achieve and later maintain the level of control that she needed to keep herself in check.  
Picking it up and looking into it, the familiar swirl of energy surrounded her and drew her into the glass. She didn't resist. The vortex the mirror created would not harm her, though there was always a sense of vertigo as she entered into her own mind, which was in turn, inside of her. For an instant before the vortex released her, she always felt as though she had been raised to the infinite power. It was not a pleasant experience, but it passed just as quickly when she emerged inside her mind.  
She landed gently on a flat topped rock that floated in what appeared to be open space, despite the fact that Raven could breathe. About a hundred feet away, she could see a long road with two archways that led to a flat, open area. Everything was barren rock.  
Small rocks began to float in from nowhere and lined up to make a pathway to the road. After a moment's thought Raven decided to walk the path rather than fly over as she normally did. Perhaps she could find the answer to her lost control better were she to move slowly.  
The first thing on the path was an old, dead tree. She had created it when she was only six, a home for a small flock of ravens she had also created. One of the birds appeared from a cavity in the tree and hopped onto her shoulder. It was an overly cute version of a raven, its body too small and its head the size of its body, but it did make a good guardian, if only there was something to guard.  
"Hello." It said in an almost wistful voice. Raven had made and trained these birds to stand watch over the entrance to her mind, chanting "Turn back." a number of times before attacking. It was only after she'd made them a permanent part of herself that she realized that no one could leave through the entrance. Back then, everything in here was grassy and alive; much like a meadow, and the ravens had a leafy, young tree to live in.  
She'd been twelve when she'd been forced to turn it all barren.  
Raven picked the little bird up and put it back on the tree before she continued on down the road, hopping over the gap that Cyborg and Beast Boy had made during their brief stay here.  
As she passed through the first archway the scenery changed around her: the empty space was gone and was replaced with a pleasant caricature of a scenic backdrop with mountains, pink trees and orange grass all under a bright yellow sky. As icing on the cake little things that Raven liked would float by on occasion. She was in her happy place.  
She kept it sealed off, even from herself, except when she journeyed this way. Only her happy side could move freely in here.  
"Hi Raven!" Her own voice called out from behind a tree between fits of laughter.  
Raven sighed, she had only really come here to see one side of her personality, and this one wasn't it. By and large, she really didn't much like to spend a lot of time around any particular one, they tended to grate on the nerves. "Hello, Happy." She half groaned. She didn't stop walking down the path.  
It had been decided long ago that Raven was called 'Raven' and that the facets of her personality were called what they were, but this only applied to when Raven was here. It was only when she was present that they became aware of what they were.  
Her happy side, a mirror image of her in a dark pink robe, ran up in front of her and began walking backwards. Happy Raven had a smug smile on that could rival Beast Boy's. Not getting a reaction, she said, "Didja see the look on Cyborg's face?" She broke into another fit of laughter. "And Starfire's when she found out what she was saying?" Happy Raven began to stagger from lack of breath.  
Raven shrugged, "Yeah," she tried to sound patronizing, "You couldn't have seen it if I couldn't." She shrugged, "Besides, Starfire had it coming."  
There had been times over the years that Raven had been talking to her happy side and it had started laughing for no apparent reason. Raven simply assumed that she had missed a joke and really didn't care enough to ask. So when Happy Raven sputtered and fell on the ground laughing, she figured that was the case and decided that it gave her a chance to get away.  
In the end it took Raven almost an hour to find the side of herself that she was looking for.  
She had to get her gray robed, scared self 's help to get through the maze where she lived. Then, after getting out, she was yelled at by Brave, who wore green, for not calling Scared 'Timid,' which she preferred. It turned out that those two had recently become friends, although Raven had no idea how that worked.  
Soon after she'd been stopped by her orange robed, rude side who insisted that she listen to a belched version of the National Anthem.  
At last she found her intelligent side where she always was: Reading a book beside a door that led to a library that was, in fact, Raven's memory. 'Smart,' as Raven tended to call her, was one of only two sides of her personality that could be determined other than by the color of her robes, which were a dull yellow, she also wore a pair of glasses. She was also one of two that actively worried her. Smart was a quiet, calculating girl, who was utterly without emotion, knew every scrap of information Raven had ever learned, whether or not she herself remembered it, and had an IQ that was probably pushing 160. Raven often wondered if Beast Boy had an intelligent side.  
Intelligent Raven looked up from her book when Raven approached, "I had expected you sooner." Her intelligent side said impassively. Raven opened her mouth but Smart held up a hand to stop her, "I am aware of your reason for being here."  
Smart was also a bit of a snob, Raven thought, but didn't mention it. "Then what's happening?" Was all she said.  
Smart very slowly took off her glasses and began to polish them on her robe, leaving Raven in irritated suspense, then she pointed with them toward a small tuft of orangey grass nestled between some rocks. Raven looked around her and could see about a dozen such tufts scattered throughout the landscape, all hidden from a casual glance.. "Where did those come from?" Raven asked her other self.  
Smart polished the glasses again and dramatically put them back on her nose. "Raven started planting them a while ago." She played with her glasses again, "You've been letting her out too much."  
"Which one?" Raven asked.  
Intelligent Raven looked annoyed at the, to her, obvious question. "I told you, it was Raven."  
This was getting her nowhere. Of course it was Raven, She thought, but you can't the difference. She rubbed the bridge of her nose between her index finger and thumb. "What color was she wearing?" Raven asked finally.  
Smart opened her mouth for a quick retort, but quickly shut it again. She tilted her head slightly and seemed to consider it for a minute. "Pink?" asked, for once not sure of the answer.  
Raven nodded in understanding, but didn't move from where she stood. Intelligent Raven looked at her for a time, then asked, "Was there something else?"  
"The two mes back there, how can they be friends?" Raven asked. Her smart side looked at her, refusing to even consider it until she got more information. Raven rolled her eyes, "The one in the maze and the one right outside it."  
Smart nodded, "The one outside the maze began it. She's not afraid to be narcissistic." She then picked up the book and began reading again. Raven knew a dismissal when she saw one.  
Raven pried for a minute, trying to get more information out of Smart, but was pointedly ignored, so she began the somewhat sad task of removing the grass from the rocks. She knew it was from her happy place. It was probably an attempt by her happy side to liven up the place, but Raven couldn't afford to be less in control.  
Using her power, she began pulling up and gathering the plants, all the while considering what they meant. For the most part, her sides stayed inside the areas that suited them: Happy in her happy place, Scared, or Timid, hid herself in the maze, etc. Having her happy self venturing out was odd. It also worried her, she had to restore her control and for now, this was the only way to do it.  
Finishing up, she simply released the mass of grasses off the edge of the platform she was standing on. A deep, ominous chuckling came from nearby as she watched them vanish into the oblivion below.  
Raven moved to walk away, to simply ignore the laughter, but when she tried to leave a voice called out to her. "You cannot win, Daughter." The voice was her own, but at the same time that of her father's, but still only one voice. "You hate that you must remain in this cold mind, and the more you hate me, the stronger I become."  
Raven turned to a pile of rocks that seemed out of place in the flat landscape. She debated, then, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." She moved a large rock off the side revealing a few bars of a steel cage, or at least it had been steel. Being close to her father had warped the cage, turning the metal bars into bone, not that they were any weaker, but it was still unnerving. Inside the inky gap in the pile, a blood red hood could be seen framing four yellow eyes. Her father, her angry self.  
"Do you truly believe that you can resist me forever?" He sneered, using a copy of her own body. "Even if you resort to making all this a wasteland, you will lose control."  
The hair on Raven's neck stood up, he was right and she knew it, but she wasn't about to let him know that. "Maybe later." She said sarcastically as she willed the rock to return to cover the hole.  
As she began to head toward the Forbidden Door and back to reality, she heard the voice echo from the rock pile, "It will be soon Raven, you are already weakening. Rage will consume you." His voice was filled with an absolute certainty that chilled Raven to the bone. Yet, she remained ever stoic as she entered the vortex of the Door and returned to face reality.  
  
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I hope you enjoyed the prologue. There's more on the way soon, I promise. Besides, if I don't deliver it soon, one of my friends will poke me to death. It's worse than it sounds. 


	2. Dark and Light

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, WB and DC do. I do, however, own Caspia and Breon, whom I borrowed from something else I've written.  
  
Notes: The second chapter in the Inner Demons story. If you've read 'Herbal Tea' you might notice some similarities, but remember that the other story was written to get material for this one.  
Also, for the very few who know about the original Caspia, I juiced him up something fierce to be a match for Raven. For the most part only his appearance and personality are the same, and even then he's less psychotic than he used to be. Enjoy.  
  
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Part 2: Dark and Light  
  
Raven entered the living room after returning from her mind. She knew full well that removing the plants that her happy side had planted wouldn't restore her control completely, but it was a good start. The process would probably take a few weeks before she was as she had been.  
Only Robin and Starfire were in the room, sitting together on the couch, so close they touched. "That sounds really simple, Star." Robin said, continuing a conversation that had been going on for a while..  
"Mm-hmm." Starfire nodded, "Anti-gravity is not a difficult endeavor."  
Raven felt like she was intruding again, but they weren't exactly being secretive about what they were doing. She also wished that she were around for at least one of Starfire's explanations of alien technology, but as it was, the most anyone, other than Robin, heard of them was the last two sentences.  
She intentionally stepped heavier to let the new couple know that she was there as she went over to where the hole in the window was now taped shut.  
"Raven," Starfire said and turned to her as she realized that she and Robin were no longer alone. "You are better?" The look of concern Starfire gave Raven bordered on the disconcerting.  
Starfire was the most sensitive and outgoing person Raven had ever met, which meant that if she asked something like that, then she was genuinely worried.  
"I'm fine, Starfire." Raven said in her usual deadpan.  
Starfire still looked worried, "I had heard that your control was lost to you." Starfire glanced deliberately at the damaged window.  
"I'm fine, Starfire." Raven repeated, a little more firmly. Starfire was the only one who could truly understand: The two girls had switched bodies for a brief period and having a bubbly girl in command of emotion driven powers had proven to be dangerous, and costly.  
Starfire kept looking at her, then let it go. "Very well." She said simply before turning back to Robin, who had decided not to get involved with the conversation.  
Raven watched the two out of the corner of her eye as she poked at the hole she'd made in the window earlier. She was happy that they'd gotten together, but she'd always thought that she and Robin had more in common. Even if he had been interested, she rationalized, it wouldn't have been fair to him as she couldn't return the emotions. Besides, he really loved Starfire, and vice versa.  
"There's someone coming later to replace that." Robin called over to her, surprising her out of her thoughts, even if she made no external signs of it. Tact, Raven decided, was something that Robin was good at. They all knew that it was Raven's fault, but he didn't lay any blame down.  
Besides, before this she'd been the only one, Robin included, who hadn't damaged the tower in any way.  
Raven didn't look at him, "Good." She said simply. Through the window she could see Cyborg and Beast Boy digging near the base of the tower. Or rather, she corrected herself, burying. She didn't need to ask what.  
Raven abruptly turned toward the exit, walking unhurriedly she said, "I'm heading out for a bit. I need to buy some more tea."  
"But Raven," Starfire asked, confused, "much of your tea remains unconsumed and..." Robin silenced her with a small, sad shake of his head. When the dark girl had left she asked, "What is wrong with Raven?"  
Robin looked to where their friend had vanished out the door, "She just needs to be alone for a while."  
"But many people frequent the mall of shopping," Starfire was getting more confused, "Would it not be better to be alone here, or in here room?"  
Robin gave her a small, sad smile, "Sometimes, its just easier to be alone in a crowd, Star."  
Starfire shook her head, "I do not understand."  
"I know." He said and kissed her.  
  
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Raven didn't much like the mall, it was the crowds. Too many people who all thought they had too little time to buy too much stuff. There were also the teenyboppers: teenage girls who all but lived in the mall, and, on rare occasions, tried to recruit her.  
Despite its flaws, here she could disappear into the sea of people. Be nothing more than a momentary obstacle for whomever was closest to her. Here, no one knew her, no one recognized her. Here, she could become truly faceless... there was a kind of Zen in that.  
She had her tea, more for show when she returned to the tower than anything else. She knew Robin understood, and would probably explain it to Starfire, but she didn't want the other boys to give her a hard time about it. Now, she was just walking for the sake of it.  
The mall itself was shaped like a giant 'I', so when she reached the end, she decided to take a left. It was then that she felt it: A force, like a fishhook in her brain, that compelled her to look behind her.  
Down the other bend of the mall, she saw him. He stood out like a sore thumb to her, but to anyone else he would never be found in the crowd. He had short, dark hair; from what she could tell from the loose sweater he wore, average build; slightly shorter than average, but not remarkably so; was in his upper teens or low twenties and was neither ugly nor handsome. Perfectly average, except that he was looking right at her.  
Their eyes locked for a moment. A word crept into Raven's consciousness from God knows where: 'Breon.' Time slowed for her, she had from now until forever to size him up. His eyes narrowed at her menacingly from across the crowd.  
She knew him, or at least thought she did. Whatever part of her knew him also told her be wary.  
Raven made a point never to use her powers in public, especially after she'd been seen with her hood down. She'd discovered that the best way to go unnoticed was to simply look like a girl trying to look like Raven. Since no one ever saw without the hood up, it was remarkably effective. If she'd had her hood up, she'd simply have, gently, held the man there with her powers, gone over and gotten some answers. That not being an option anymore, she had to take a more passive approach. She began to push through the crowd.  
Raven tried hard to keep an eye on him, but the persistent elbows and shoulders of the people pushed her around just enough that she lost him. If she'd have been Cyborg, she'd have sworn. Instead, she decided that she'd had enough of the mall and went home.  
  
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"So these... 'Peadiayes,' as you call them, invoke feelings of discomfort?" Starfire asked as Raven walked in. Judging by Cyborg's face, it was buried in his hands, it wasn't the first time she'd asked. The two were sitting on the crescent couch, on the ends so that they were looking at each other. As a change of pace, Robin wasn't with Starfire.  
Raven dropped her box of tea on the counter and looked at them. "What are you doing?" She asked Cyborg.  
Cyborg looked up at her, "I'm trying," He emphasized the word 'trying,' "to explain to Starfire about PDAs."  
Raven raised an eyebrow, "Without Robin?" It was a rhetorical question, spoken in her usual deadpan, but the meaning wasn't lost on Cyborg. Robin was the only one who had the patience and the knowledge of people, Starfire in particular, to know what, exactly, it was that Starfire didn't understand and explain it to her.  
Starfire looked between the two, subtlety was usually lost on her, and so she didn't understand the statement. Instead she asked, "And what are these PDAs of which you speak?"  
Raven rolled her eyes at Cyborg, "You didn't tell her?" Raven was good at rhetorical questions.  
"I thought she knew!" Cyborg, frustrated, threw up his hands.  
Starfire stood up and held out her hands, "Friends, please!" Starfire stopped a lot of fights doing that, if for no other reason than her if they kept going they knew that Starfire would feel responsible. "Explain to me how I have erred that I may correct it." She said her calm, innocent tone of voice.  
Raven didn't know how it had happened, but somehow the explanation process had been delegated to her. Rolling her eyes again, she explained. "Starfire, PDA is short for 'Public Displays of Affection.'"  
Starfire blinked at her, "And these are unacceptable on your planet?"  
  
Now Raven was stumped, she had no idea how to explain this properly. "They make people uncomfortable." She ventured. The thanking look on Cyborg's face told Raven that this was more progress than he'd made in however long he'd been at it.  
"Why?" Starfire asked.  
Raven had no answer, she found herself wishing she knew where Robin was.  
"Its something that some people think should be private." Robin was at the door, apparently. He walked in, supporting a limping Beast Boy. Starfire smiled both at his return and the new understanding.  
"So," Cyborg asked with a grin, "How the sparring match go?"  
Beast Boy pushed away from Robin, staggering a bit, but keeping his balance. "I was so in the zone!" He said, doing a limping boxer's dance. "But then Wonder Boy here caught me off guard." He finished with a jerk of his thumb at Robin.  
Robin smiled at him, "You tripped over a dumbbell." He said, matter- of-factly.  
"Dude!" Beast Boy yelled accusingly.  
Raven saw where this was going and edged past the two boys and out the door.  
"Hey, Rae? Where ya going?" Cyborg's voice reached her before she vanished down the hallway.  
"I'll be on the roof." She called back and was gone before the argument got any worse, which it would, but they'd still be friends when it was over, so it was okay. She found the stairs and took them up to the rooftop.  
Raven stepped out into the mid-afternoon sun. She often mediated up her. The wind was refreshing, the sun was warm and the only sounds, except when the pool that was up her was in use, were the rush of the breeze and the calls of birds. She felt a small pang of regret at the thought of birds, but dismissed it.  
Sitting lotus style near the edge of the roof, she closed her eyes and began to chant to clear her mind of all but finding the answers she needed.  
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos" What was bothering her was that man she'd seen at the mall. Breon. Was that his name? No, that didn't seem right, somehow.  
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos" Maybe it was where he was from? She doubted that too, she had only ever been to Azarath and Earth, so far as she knew.  
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos" He had obviously known her, so they must have met at some point, but where? And when?  
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos" What about that feeling of, well, not quite dread she'd felt? Where did that come from? Maybe he was a priest from some order that was against Azarath. That made some sense, anyone who knew what Azarath's power felt like could feel it on her, but who would be against an order who wanted nothing but peace?  
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Raven knew the answer to that last question: A lot of people were opposed to peace, for whatever reason.  
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." If that was the case, was Breon the name of the order? Or of someone in it she'd met before and she had recognized something about it on the young man?  
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Her mother might know, but she was hard to get in touch with at the best of times. She'd be out on that ranch of hers for days at a time away from a phone.  
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Besides, it might bring back memories that she didn't want to deal with. No, Raven would find out on her own.  
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Making no progress, Raven allowed her mind to clear completely, and entered into deep meditation.  
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."  
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."  
"Azarath Metrion..." Raven felt the fishhook in her mind again, pulling behind her and to the right. Slowly, she opened her eyes and turned only her head to see.  
It was him. He stood on the roof about forty feet from her, just looking at her. A perfectly average young man, but something in her brain was screaming at her.  
He said a single word: "Trigon." His voice was deep, and carried some force, but it too wasn't really all that special. It was the word that rang in her ears and made the hair on her neck stand up. She didn't move or even seem to react at all.  
"How do you know that name?" Raven asked him, still using her normal deadpan, but it cracked a little despite her best efforts.  
The man nodded sadly, as though he'd just heard something he didn't want to hear, but was expecting anyway. "The same way you know the name Breon." He said sadly.  
The chill in Raven's spine got worse. Their eyes locked. Something that had been bothering the girl revealed itself: They were on the roof of a ten-storey building with no external ladders or fire escapes, and with alarms to sound if someone unauthorized entered. So, how did he get up here?  
His eyes softened slightly, "I'm sorry." He said almost too low to hear. Then he seemed to go out of focus. Try as she might, Raven couldn't really see him, as though she were looking at him through the waves of heat distortion over a highway during the summer. It made Raven's eyes water.  
An instant later, he snapped back into focus; changed. He was the same man, perhaps an inch taller, but now his back sported a pair of leathery wings covered in black hair and with a clawed 'thumb' at the main joint. His hands had also become a set of claws. This explained how he got up here, at least.  
Raven still didn't move, even if her eyes had widened slightly and she knew it showed on her face that she was getting worried. But that didn't mean she wasn't still calm. She risked a look at his hands and saw that his claws weren't edged, like a cat's, they were curved and tapered, but more cylindrical. They were meant for gripping and digging. Which meant that they'd tear, not cut, the bigger ones on his wings were the same. Raven didn't want to think about that. She looked him in the eyes again and the standoff continued.  
Raven moved first. She stood up and took a defensive posture toward him, but he was already moving. Eating up the ground with three quick strides, he was on her, his right hand scything through air that had only a moment before been occupied by Raven.  
She kicked off the ground, levitating backwards as fast as she could, zigzagging to avoid the arcs of the claws that threatened to tear parts from her body. As fast as she was, he was at least as fast, if not faster and kept pace with her easily, the attacks never letting up.  
Raven was being forced back toward the wall of the raised staircase, and she knew it. If she reached it, she would have nowhere to run. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" She cried out, almost desperately. She felt her power increase and reached it out to take hold of part of the satellite dish support. She jerked the short length of metal free and slammed it into the back of her attacker's head.  
He fell to his knees shaking his head. Raven stopped, panting slightly, eyes glowing with dark light as she was still holding her power at the ready. He looked up at her and their eyes locked yet again. He seemed taken aback by what he saw, then his expression change. Raven knew instantly that it was serious now.  
The man stood up, flaring his wings behind him as his right palm began to glow bright white. The light seemed to gather, then shot forward, becoming a two and a half foot spike emerging from his palm, but staying straight with his forearm. The spike was perhaps three inches at the base and writhed with a life of its own, like a snake that had its head and tail held fast, fingers of light arcing like lightning off the main body..  
Raven lifted herself an inch off the ground.  
Her attacker launched himself at her, full force, the blade scything across his body. Raven pushed back as fast and hard as her power would carry her, dodging the blade, but feeling the tendrils sting her as it passed within inches. Her back was now firmly again the wall.  
The man reversed his attack, his whole body spinning and bringing the blade down on her with all his weight behind it. A normal steel blade would have cut her in half, she didn't know what this one would do to her, but it never touch her. She cast a barrier up to catch it, but she wasn't expecting what happened when the blade hit her shield. For the space of an inch there was a nothingness, as though the universe seemed to cease to be, right where their two powers met. She found that she had to continually feed energy into the shield and rebuild it constantly to hold it there, and from the looks of it, her attacker was doing the same with his sword.  
Raven gathered her will and pushed up, hard, on her barrier, forcing the man to stagger backward. Before his back foot hit the roof he was already gathering himself for a thrust, but he telegraphed himself too much. Raven was ready this time.  
When he lunged forward, Raven was already moving past him. His blade buried itself uselessly into the wall as his momentum carried him forward, but he spread his wings, claw first, out to stop her. Raven felt the claw catch and tear at the edge of her cloak, but it didn't even slow her down. She smiled to herself.  
Raven realized that she was excited, that this was exciting her. She felt so alive right now, she felt... no, she told herself, she couldn't afford to feel. She shook her head to clear it.  
From start to finish, her lapse took about a second. In combat, no one can afford a second.  
She would have screamed in pain, but the attack knocked the air from her lungs and propelled her forward. She hit the roof hard and rolled to her hands and knees. Her back was badly burned, right between her shoulder blades and she felt a warm trickle spread down her spine.  
She looked up at him, his right hand still held, for lack of a better word, the blade but his left hand was held, palm up with fingers splayed out to toward her. Tiny, white arcs of residual energy played between the spread fingers. He must have wheeled around and shot her with his lightning. She didn't know he could do that.  
He started toward her slowly and Raven felt it start to rise inside of her soul, again. Anger and despair, the feeling that it she was going to die because she had been careless and that there was nothing she could do to stop it now. Just like against Dr. Light. She fought for control of herself, but it was a losing battle.  
"Stay back." She told the man in a weak voice.  
He just shook his head sadly, "I'm sorry." He said as he continued forward, raising his blade for another strike.  
Raven lost control.  
In a flurry of movement Raven rose up ten feet, her cloak swirling around her and extending to whirl about the ground, her eyes glowing a deep, blood red. The front of her cloak opened, becoming a dark maw into a nether realm of eternal darkness.  
"You're sorry?" Raven heard herself say  
Raven watched, separate from herself as her attacker staggered back a step, but, to his credit, recovered quickly and dropped into a fighting stance. From deep within her cloak, living ropes of pure darkness launched themselves at the man. He moved fast, cutting down the first three with the same burst of nothingness each time, but the next four caught him; one on each limb.  
He was slammed, hard, into the ground, the air and control of his blade knocked from him. The white light vanished into the ether. Coughing, he began to be pulled into the darkness, feebly scrambling to find a place to grip on the smooth rooftop.  
As his feet entered the maw of Raven's cloak he cried out and a dozen tiny arcs of light lanced from his wings in rapid succession, pock marking the roof and giving his clawed hands and wings a purchase. He held on as though his life depended on it, which it did.  
Raven watched as her body, under her father's control seemed to shrug and simply moved over him rather than pull him in. When his legs and hips were gone into the darkness, he began to shiver from the cold of it.  
Her attacker turned victim looked over his shoulder at where he was disappearing into and his eyes flashed red for an instant, but he buried it with a shake of his head. He forced himself to turn over as his shivering began to look like a seizure.  
"No!" He cried out at least, when only his arms and head remained free. He called the blade back to his right hand, a pitiful shell of its former self, and thrust it deep into the darkness within Raven's cloak.  
There was an explosion of nothingness. There was no sound, no light, in fact, were someone to have been looking down at the Tower's roof from a plane, they would have sworn that it was suddenly twenty feet closer. There was force, however. Deep inside herself, Raven felt her father being knocked into unconsciousness even as she flew back on the roof, bounced twice and rolled to a stop some two dozen feet away from where she started.  
  
Raven gingerly pushed herself up, careful of any broken bones, but found that there were none, even though her back screamed at her. She staggered toward where her attacker lay.  
He had fared much worse than her. He had been only a few feet from the wall when he was blasted back and had hit it with such force that many of the bricks had cracked. He lay in a crumpled heap on the ground in a small pool of his own blood. As Raven approached, he slowly, painfully, pushed himself up to his elbows, but his legs were completely useless. He turned to look at the staggering girl.  
Raven reached out her power and pulled out a support cable for the satellite dish, wrapping it tightly around his neck, but not quite enough to strangle him.  
"Who are you?" Raven managed weakly.  
He looked at her almost angrily, but it could be just from the pain, "Caspia." He forced through clenched teeth. They looked at each other, both were fading fast, "Either do it, or let me go." He said, his eyes almost hopeful, for either choice she made.  
Raven felt the warm trickle from her back reach the back of her knees as the door to the stairs opened. All four of the other Titans stood in the doorway, all wide eyed. Raven looked at them, then back to the man named Caspia, who had passed out and was hanging by his neck from the cable Raven still held at his neck.  
Raven released the cable, which fell, along with her attacker, to the ground, looked briefly to her friends. She noted that they were hard to focus on, then blacked out.  
  
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This is the end of Part Two, I hope you enjoyed it. There will be more to this, though when exactly, I don't know, probably not for a week at the very least. 


	3. Bedside Manner

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, WB and DC do. I do, however, own Caspia and Breon, whom I borrowed from something else I've written.  
  
Notes: The third chapter in the Inner Demons story. This chapter was originally the beginning to the next one, but seemed a little too enclosed to be part of another, that and the next chapter would have been quite huge. Enjoy.  
  
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Part 3: Bedside Manner  
  
Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep...  
What's that? Raven thought as she slipped into consciousness. Her eyes were blurring and all she could see was white.  
Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep...  
Whatever that is, its getting really annoying. She thought as she turned her head toward the noise. Everything was fuzzy, even her mind, so when she saw the large beeping machine with the moving line across it her first thought was 'Alarm Clock.'  
Raven reached across her body to try and find the 'snooze' button.  
"Ah!" Raven gasped as a stab pain shot through her hand. She jerked her body back flat on the bed. "Gah!" She cried again as a much worse, grinding pain ripped from between her shoulder blades.  
Beepbeep... Beepbeep... Beepbeep...  
She lay back on the bed, gasping until the throbbing pain turned into a dull ache. She felt a warm wetness radiate slowly from the painful spot on her back. She was bleeding again, but not very badly, it would stop on its own soon.  
The shock had knocked her, rather rudely, completely back into reality. She now knew that she was in the Titans' Tower infirmary. It was a large room, not that there were any small ones in the tower, that was meant for healing minor injuries, but had the facilities to perform most surgeries if there somewhere there who was able. Raven knew that it was most likely Robin who had treated her, the boy had an amazing range of skills. Cyborg knew how to do it too, but Robin was better.  
Raven didn't like this room. Among other things it smelled of antiseptics, everything was covered with harsh, white tiles that hurt the eyes and there were far too many sharp objects in here for anyone to be comfortable. The big issue with this room was that it reminded everyone of their mortality.  
By and large, the only reason that anyone had ever come into the infirmary was to get some aspirin or to clean the place. The aspirin was now kept in the main bathroom.  
Raven looked at her aching hand: An IV needle was stuck in it trailing a tube that attached her to a half-full bag of Ringer's Solution. Ignoring the pain, she pulled out the offending piece of metal.  
Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep...  
Raven turned again to what she now recognized as a heart monitor. She tried turning it off with her powers, but found that they were drained. She turned it off by hand. Following the wire from it, she found the electrode taped to the ring finger of her other hand. She removed it.  
Blessed silence.  
Mindful of her back, Raven sat up very slowly, her single sheet falling away to reveal only a simple hospital gown and, thankfully, not more wires or tubes.  
In the nearest corner of the room were two sets of her usual clothes. One set was neatly set out on a table: Clean, pressed and immaculate. The other hung from a hook: Covered in her blood and with a two inch wide, roughly circular, burn mark through the back of both parts clearly visible.  
  
Still careful of her injuries, Raven stood up slowly, crossed the room and began to change. The familiarity of her own clothes comforted her and helped to ease the pain, even though the tight bodysuit pressed the dressings roughly against the wounds.  
Still weak and stumbling occasionally, Raven walked to the door. She had to find the one of the others to find out what had happened.  
And to thank them for saving me. Raven added mentally as she opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.  
  
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Robin couldn't sleep. That wasn't unusual, every time he had something that bothered him he would spend the night working it out in his head. In his short life he had spent more than his share of nights lying awake.  
As it turned out, this was not a problem for Starfire. The young girl lay curled up beside him in what was rapidly becoming 'their' bed.  
Robin had been staring into Starfire's face for the past few hours, and for once he was scared. He had no idea how far the relationship would go, or how long until it stopped. Life with Starfire. Life without her beside him. Both roads were ahead of him and both scared him more than he cared to admit.  
He reached out and gently played with an errant strand of her hair. It felt like silk between his fingers.  
Until it was no longer possible, or until she rejected him, Robin would stay with Starfire. Somehow, it was the only option. Theoretically, everything would be simpler without her. In practice, it would be more complicated. Everything he did would end: 'without Starfire.' He would fight crime without Starfire. He would eat, sleep and breathe with Starfire. The thought was almost physically painful.  
Tonight though, it wasn't thoughts of Starfire that kept him awake, it was Raven. Two days ago the TV reception had cut out, so he, Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg had gone up to the roof to fix it, expecting to find the dish moved a bit by the wind. Instead they'd found Raven, covered in blood, strangling a winged man, who was also covered in blood, with a piece of cable from the dish assembly. Both of them had passed out before they could offer any explanations.  
Cyborg had treated Raven, who had suffered from a concussion, a really nasty burn and blood loss, not to mention a score of smaller cuts and bruises. She was in much better shape than the man who was with her.  
Robin had taken care of the man. He had a concussion and blood loss, though both much more serious than Raven, plus most of the skin from his back had been left clinging to a wall. He also had something the scanners couldn't identify on the nerves in his legs. Whatever it was, it was paralyzing them.  
Without knowing what had happened up there they couldn't give the man to the police, and he was going to take longer to heal than Raven, so they had kept him in the infirmary. Not one to take risks, however, Robin had bound him to the bed, although the wings had taken some creativity to hold down.  
A strange tone from his night table pulled his attention away from Starfire's face. It meant that one of the two in the infirmary was awake. He's have to check up on them. Slowly, so as not to disturb his new girlfriend, he slipped from the bed and put on the cape, boots and mask that were all he removed at night.  
"Robin?" Her voice startled him as he was about to open the door.  
Robin was impressed. It was only their third night together and already she was able to wake up knowing he wasn't with her. He turned back to the bed, "It's okay, Star." He said gently, "I just have to check on Raven."  
It took her a few tries, but eventually her sleepy, green on green eyes focused on him. "Do you desire companionship?"  
Yes, Robin's mind said, but his mouth said, "Don't worry about it, Star." He leaned down and kissed her, "Go back to sleep."  
Starfire yawned deeply, "Very Well." She said and closed her eyes. She was already asleep.  
Robin made a point to learn that trick and stepped out to go see to Raven.  
He found her before he reached the infirmary. She was leaning heavily against a wall for support and gasping for breath. "Raven!" He called out when he saw her and immediately slipped under her arm to support her.  
Raven struggled slightly at the sudden closeness, "I'm fine, Robin..." She started, but a cold look from the boy silenced her. Robin understood her discomfort, but right now he didn't care; she was hurt and would be tended to.  
They stumbled back to the infirmary, which was the closest place where she could sit down. Robin took Raven's cloak from her and had her lay back on one of the beds, not the one she had been occupying before as it had blood stains on it. Despite herself, Raven was grateful for the help and the bed under her.  
"What happened to Caspia?" Raven asked as Robin was hanging up her cloak. She used a control button to raise the head of the bed so that she was sitting.  
"The guy from the roof?" Robin asked, "He's over there." He pointed to a curtained off area of the infirmary.  
Raven kicked herself mentally for not noticing earlier. The infirmary had five beds, one for each of them in case things got really bad, each with a curtain for some privacy. Now only four were in the open, the curtain drawn on the last bed.  
"He's in pretty bad shape." Robin continued. He turned back to Raven. "So what happened up there?"  
Raven shrugged, wincing a little at the pain in her back, "I don't really know." She looked at the curtain, "He attacked me, but I don't think he wanted to."  
"Slade." Robin said harshly, his eyes narrowing.  
"Maybe," Raven said carefully, "But maybe not." Robin looked at her as though he were insulted. "Slade's not the only one who can control people, Robin." She waited until Robin's nod showed that he was open to a new possibility. "Besides, he was after me."  
Robin nodded again, almost an apology. He knew full well that his obsession with Slade was a problem and he'd have to deal with it.  
There was a silence after that, not quite awkward, just empty. Robin eventually broke it. "Something happened to his legs," He said, referring to the man at the end of the room. "do you know how to fix it?"  
Raven looked over to the curtain again, then gingerly stepped down off the bed. Still weak from her walk she stumbled as she touched the ground, but waved off any help from Robin. Even so, he moved in front of her and pulled back the curtain for her.  
As she limped up beside him Raven noticed that Caspia, or so she'd been told his name was, seemed so much smaller now. Still in his winged form, he was secured to the bed with wide leather cuffs on his wrists and ankles that would probably held Cyborg down. His wings had been folded tightly, then tied shut with a cable which was lashed to the wall behind the bed. What she could see of his body sticking out from under the sheet had jagged scars covering it.  
He looked pale.  
Ignoring the incongruency of his thick, clawed hands Raven looked at his legs. There was nothing there to be see, but she sensed the problem easily. Her and Caspia's powers cancelled each other and when she had pulled him in, she must have forced his out and replaced them. She knew that her power flowed through her nerves, and could feel that his was in his blood; when he, for lack of a better term, removed himself from her grip, the blood must have returned and trapped her energy inside of him.  
Raven placed her hands a few inches over his knees and concentrated. The fight and subsequent healing had left her very drained, but she was certain that she could manage this. She felt for the taste of her own energy, grasped it and pulled.  
Robin didn't know what Raven was doing, but he knew that Raven had the ability to heal. Nonetheless, he was surprised to see wisps of black smoke leak from the man's legs and disappear into Raven's hands.  
When she was done, she simply looked down to make sure she had all of it and stumbled back to her bed, staggering more than before, but still waving off any help from Robin. Raven lay back on the bed, again grateful for its support, even if it didn't show on her face.  
She looked at Robin, who obviously felt rather useless, "He can walk now, don't worry."  
As she lowered the head back down, Robin asked, "So, Raven, is there anything I can do for you?"  
"Go back to Starfire, Robin." Raven said in a dismissive deadpan. "I'll be fine."  
Robin reluctantly left her alone. As Raven succumbed to her exhaustion she knew that tomorrow, whenever she woke up, her powers would be back fully and she could begin healing herself. A few days and she would be fine again.  
Raven looked over to where the curtain was still pulled back and she could see Caspia's bed.  
And maybe some answers. She thought to herself.  
  
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Again, kind of small, but too big to be part of another chapter. The next one will be dark, I swear. 


	4. Coffin Nails

Disclaimer: Except for Caspia and Breon, I own none of the characters in this story. Warner Bros. and DC do.  
  
Author's notes: Fair bit of delay on this one, but no matter. This chapter, the one before it and the one after were supposed to be one, but have since evolved to be huge. Kind of odd, really. A warning to anyone who actually reads these notes: This chapter is slow and is essentially Caspia being grilled by the Titans. It is still important.  
  
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Part 4: Coffin Nails  
  
Raven spent the better part of a week in the infirmary, leaving only to sleep in her own bed and to eat. After three days of using her power to heal herself, and eating more than the other four Titans combined, her wounds were healed completely. She began healing her attacker immediately after.  
Raven avoided the others' questions of 'why' as she healed the man, saying that she needed to talk with him. It wasn't a lie, but she didn't tell the what she wanted to ask.  
She needed answers. She needed to know who and what she, or rather, they, really were. Robin had guessed his age between eighteen and twenty, as much as five years older than she was. She had to know how he'd survived this long, even if she had to fight him again to find out.  
Near the end of the week his body was mended, even though he hadn't woken yet. Raven, deciding that there was nothing left to do but wait, left him lying in the infirmary to take a well deserved rest.  
  
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Starfire tossed and turned in her bed. She couldn't sleep. Again. She had had two sleepless nights now and was working on her third. When Raven had begun healing a man who had tried to kill her, Starfire realized how selfish it was to keep imposing on Robin to share his bed. Inspired by the dark girl, and feeling more than a little guilty, she had vowed to allow Robin the decent night's sleep he deserved and was certainly not getting with an extra body beside him.  
She hadn't slept since.  
Starfire rolled over again and stared at her ceiling. Perhaps it is that humans excrete a chemical when asleep. She pondered to herself. Or perhaps that little, rhythmic nasal noise Robin makes when asleep is hypnotic. Starfire rather liked that noise, and there was no denying that she slept better with Robin.  
Physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted, the young Tamaranian girl still couldn't nod off. Starfire sighed at the ceiling, she really needed to sleep.  
Starfire rose out of bed, the weight of her guilt finally overpowered by her exhaustion and loneliness. "Perhaps Robin will permit me another night with him." She said aloud as she dressed. Sighing loudly to herself, she opened her door and stepped out into the night.  
The hallway was dark and sterile, just as it always was, even during the day. Her footsteps echoed harshly in the gloom as she walked. It was scarcely more than a week since she had walked this hall late at night and begun her relationship with Robin.  
Starfire smiled and kept walking, rising off the ground as she passed Raven's room to avoid waking the dark girl.  
Near the halfway point between her own room and Robin's she began to hear a strange, rattling noise and a voice she didn't know cursing and muttering. Starfire's hand drifted to a device that Robin had insisted she wear on her belt. On it was a button that would send out a distress signal if pressed to wake of the other four Titan's.  
One finger hovering a millimeter over the button, she moved toward the muffled sound.  
"Hello?" She called out into the empty hall, "Friends? Is one of you there?" She continued toward the noise until she reached a door and calmed down almost instantly. She was outside the infirmary.  
Starfire's hand moved away from the button and pulled another device from her belt. "Raven?" She spoke into the device. There was a very long pause.  
"What do you want, Starfire?" Came a groggy and irritated voice through the communicator.  
"Raven, my apologies for awakening you, but your friend has, himself, awoken."  
"Friend...?" Raven sounded confused, "Oh... Thanks." Her voice became sterner. "Starfire, be careful, he's dangerous."  
Starfire listened through the door at the man's struggling. "He seems to be unhappy." She said into the communicator, "I will calm him." She turned off the device before returning it to her belt.  
Starfire hit the door button and stepped into the stark, white room. The racket continued from behind the drawn curtain at the end of the room. The bed was rattling so much that Starfire was sure it would have fallen over had it not been secured to the ground and the creak and groan of stretching leather could be heard as he strained against the cuffs that held him down. All the while a constant stream of mild curses and begs continued as he tried to free himself.  
Starfire continued to listen, curious as to what the man was doing behind that curtain.  
"Come on, come on..." She heard his voice say, "please, work this time..." the creak of him forcing the cuffs, "Dammit!" Harsh rattling of the bed, followed by an odd scratching that she couldn't hear from outside. Then the process repeated.  
Starfire floated over to the curtain and flung it open, crying out "Greetings!" and flashing the man a wide smile as she did.  
The man stopped his struggles instantly and stared up at the smiling girl.  
Starfire, who had never been in to see him, stared at his oversized, clawed hands which were bent backward at an uncomfortable angle to try and scratch through the leather that held them down. There was a deep trench carved into both bands.  
He continued to stare up at Starfire silently. The girl felt her smile begin to feel forced as the awkwardness of the situation began to wash over her.  
Trying to break the silence, Starfire tried again. "I am Starfire." She said cheerfully, "Do not be unnerved, you are being well taken care of." She gently laid a hand on his shoulder.  
He looked at the hand for a brief moment, then, with a flash of inhuman teeth, tried to bite it.  
"Eep!" Starfire squeaked as she pulled her hand away just before the canines snapped down on it. She reflexively cradled the wrist that had almost been bitten. The girl looked back to the man's face and saw his eyes full of fear and anger.  
He twisted his hands back further to an angle she wouldn't have though possible and placed a claw against each wrist behind the leather restraints. "You will not have me again." He said, with a slight break in his voice. "I'll kill myself before I let you people touch me. I won't be broken again." To prove his resolve he put pressure on his wrists. Starfire stepped backward in horror as blood began to pool around the tips of the claws.  
"Us people?" Starfire asked in desperation, "But we have never met before."  
"What did you do, Starfire?" Raven's impassive voice came from behind Starfire, her groggy eyes looking at the bed from under her hood.  
"Raven!" Starfire ran over to the darker girl, gripped her shoulders and began yelling, "I am sorry, he was awake and in need of calming and I attempted to calm him, but then he tried to bite me and now is threatening suicide and I don't."  
"Starfire!" Raven cut her off, removing the other girl's hands from her shoulders, "Calm down." She moved past the other girl, but stopped mid- step. "He tried to bite you?"  
Starfire nodded briskly.  
Raven continued over to stand beside the bed that held her attacker. She looked him over slowly, her eyes coming to his wrists. She looked at the blood running down his forearm and then to the deep scratches on the leather restraints.  
She waited until he followed her gaze. "There're steel bands in those." She said flatly.  
He closed his eyes and a resigned look came over his face. Raven heard Starfire gasp as the flow of blood from the man's wrists increased.  
Raven watched him a moment, "If I let you go, will you try to kill me again?"  
He looked closely at Raven, and, for the first time, actually saw her. The help him, she lowered her hood so he could see her face. His eyes widened instantly.  
"You're still you." He was surprised.  
Starfire glanced quickly back and forth between the two. "Raven, what does he.?"  
Raven silenced her with a raised hand. "Yes." She told him as he recovered from the surprise. "Will you?" She repeated.  
Hard, silent tension filled the room as the two stared at each other. Starfire found herself backing away in fear.  
Finally, the man shook his head slowly, "Not for the moment." He said carefully as he removed his claws from his wrists and relaxed.  
Not making any sudden movements, Raven healed the new cuts and released his hands, trusting him to be able to free himself after that.  
He was. In under a minute he was standing beside the bed shrugging the last of the cable from his wings. When it fell to the floor, he slipped out of focus and came back human.  
"Alexander Caspia." He said almost apologetically and offered his hand.  
Raven looked briefly at the hand and pointedly ignored it. "Raven." she said simply.  
Caspia nodded sadly in understanding, and was about to lower his hand when it was grabbed by the forgotten Starfire and shaken enthusiastically.  
  
"I am Starfire. It is. nice. to meet you Mr. Caspia."  
Both Raven and Caspia stared at the girl as she continued to shake the hand happily. Caspia blinked at her. "Sorry about earlier." He ventured.  
"It is alright, I am undamaged." Starfire said as she, finally, released him.  
"I need answers." Raven cut in roughly, shocking Starfire.  
Caspia only sighed and turned back to Raven, leaving Starfire forgotten again. His eyes softened as they looked into hers. Raven grew uncomfortable as she felt his sympathy.  
He then turned away from her and looked out a window. "It's late." He said as he gently laid a hand on her shoulder, Raven was too taken aback to be offended, "and you look tired. Get some sleep. I'll tell you whatever you want to know in the morning."  
Raven made no move to leave.  
"I won't run." He told her. Eventually, she moved away and left the room.  
"Good night," Starfire said cheerfully, shocking him as he'd forgotten her again, before leaving to find Robin's room.  
  
************************************************************  
  
Robin and Starfire were the first awake the next day and found Caspia trying to figure out the gamestation. When the others were awake, Caspia found himself sitting on the coffee table while the Titans sat on the couch facing him, with the exception of Raven, who was standing to one side.  
After introductions were over, Caspia asked, "Alright, what do you want to know?" Raven knew it was a rhetorical question and was about to call him on it when Beast Boy spoke.  
"Dude, what happened to your wings?" Instead of saying anything, Caspia just transformed. Beast boy blinked and looked insulted, "Yeah, well, I'm better at it." He said defensibly, crossing his arms.  
Cyborg raised an eyebrow, "Don't that put holes in your shirt?"  
Caspia's eyes narrowed a little, Raven guessed, accurately, that he was asked these questions a good deal. "Yes," The young man said simply as he leaned over to show them the base of his wing. The bone and muscle part connected where a shoulder blade should be and the membrane connection ran straight down to end near his waist. A millimeter away from the wing his shirt, one borrowed from Cyborg as his old one was in shreds, cut away cleanly.  
He slipped out of and back into focus, becoming human again. "They go away when I change back." The holes were, indeed, gone. "I have no idea why."  
Raven was glaring at the boys for delaying her own questions and missed her chance, Robin asked the next one. "So you just flew up on the roof and attacked Raven?"  
Caspia nodded, "I can't fly, but yes."  
Beast Boy, who was trying very hard not to notice Raven, asked in disbelief, "You can't?"  
He shook his head. "No, I'm too heavy. I can barely glide." Seeing the further confusion on Beast Boy's face, he explained, "Gliding is like doing an iron cross, I can't hold it for more than, maybe, a minute."  
"What is an 'iron cross?'" Starfire asked Robin.  
"Gymnastics move," Robin explained, "Hang from two ropes and hold your arms out straight."  
"Wait a minute," Beast Boy said suddenly, "If you can't."  
"I climbed the wall." Caspia cut him off. Beast Boy's forehead creased, "I have claws." He answered the unasked question.  
"Why did you attack her?" Robin asked a little harshly, bringing them back to the conversation. One of the young boy's hands was on a weapon at his belt, a fact not lost on the newcomer.  
Caspia seemed to consider this for a time. "She knows," He said finally, gesturing at Raven then turned to her. "Do you want me to tell them?" He asked gently.  
"Go ahead." Raven said impassively, but a little too quickly.  
The man nodded back and sighed sadly. His eyes went hard again as he began. -"She's a half demon." He said matter-of-factly as he turned back to the others. "So am I. I imagine that her mother was raped, most of our mothers were." He waited for it to sink in, but it seemed that they already knew. Raven became more annoyed with Beast Boy and Cyborg for not keeping her secrets to themselves.  
Ignoring the evil eye Raven was using on her friends, Caspia continued, "We both inherited powers from our fathers, mine is elemental light, hers is elemental darkness." He turned to Raven, "Very rare, I might add."  
"Thanks." Raven said sarcastically.  
"Wait," Cyborg said suddenly, "So that means that she's evil?" He looked warily at his friend.  
One of Caspia's eyebrows rose, "No." He said slowly, "That would be like saying Gandhi was evil for turning off a light bulb. If it makes it easier for you though: Chaos;" He jerked a thumb toward himself, "And Order." He pointed at Raven.  
"Anyway, that's not important." Caspia shook his head as he backpedaled, "Sometimes, the father leaves a shard of himself in the fetus. It takes over one part of the child's personality, usually either anger or fear." Cyborg and Beast Boy nodded in understanding, which honestly surprised the man, Raven was as unreadable as always. "When the shard personality is strong enough it tries to take over the rest of the mind," He paused to consider something, "More like digest it, actually.  
"When the take over starts, there's a power struggle, and it makes the child go violently insane. When this happens, the child starts killing people." Caspia paused again, waiting for the four aghast faces on the couch returned to normal. Sparing a thought for Raven, he saw that she simply stood there with her eyes closed; this was a confirmation for her.  
When they were ready, he let the other shoe drop. "If the child is allowed to survive their insanity, they become a copy of their father. Think of it as a combination of reproduction and immortality."  
"You still didn't answer my question." Robin said coolly.  
Caspia nodded, "I'm about to." He took a deep breath. "I kill half demons before they go insane."  
"You will not kill Raven!" Starfire cried out as she began rising off the couch, her eyes flaming green. "Why do you not simply aid her to overcome her father as you did yours?"  
"Because he hasn't..." Raven said, letting a little bit of emotion slip into her voice despite herself, "No one can."  
Starfire's eyes lost their fire and she began to lose altitude, "But he is..."  
"Running out of time." Caspia cut her off. "And I've lasted longer than most."  
A long silence followed. Raven stared off into a dark corner of the room while Caspia looked at the floor forlornly.  
Beast Boy perked up, "Why don't we just kick Raven's dad out that Forbidden Door?"  
Raven rolled her eyes again, but said nothing.  
Caspia looked the green boy in the eyes and said, "That would destroy them both."  
Beast Boy blinked, "Huh?"  
"Trigon is my anger." Raven said, still not looking at anyone of anything.  
"So? So wouldn't get angry." Beast Boy shrugged, "You don't get angry now."  
Raven groaned. Caspia gave him a look of forced patience. "Trigon would be destroyed, yes, only a complete soul can pass through the ether."  
"What's...?"Beast Boy began, but was silenced quickly by Robin.  
"Thank you. No one's mind can stand losing a side of its personality. It makes a vacuum."  
"What are you saying?" Robin asked.  
Raven was the first to answer, "My mind would literally collapse on itself."  
Starfire asked, "What would become of Raven then?"  
Caspia shrugged, "Best case: Catatonia. Worst case: Her brain would just shut down and she'd die."  
"That is awful!" Starfire yelled, "You speak of the death of Raven as though it were nothing! It is not right!"  
Caspia's eyes narrowed and he stood up to glare down on Starfire, "Do you think I like doing this? Or Raven," He gestured to the dark girl, but never taking his eyes off Starfire, "if she changes she'll become a soulless killing machine. A slave to her father. Do you think she wants that?" Starfire lowered her eyes and Caspia's voice lightened soon after, "I'm going to tell you something about 'right'. There isn't always a 'right' choice."  
His eyes became a little distant as he continued, "The youngest person I've ever fought was a ten year old girl. She wasn't strong. Her powers were only just starting to manifest themselves. I managed to knock her out, so I gave her to the police instead of killing her." His eyes focused again on Starfire, "Was that the 'right' choice?"  
The girl nodded, "Yes, that is..."  
"Wrong." He cut her off again, "I left that city. Two days later I found out that she had woken up as her father." He paused, if they didn't know better, the Titans would say that it was to compose himself. "By the time I got back and finished her off, over a hundred people were dead. There just wasn't a 'right' answer. There often isn't."  
The Titans all gave him sick expressions. Raven finally had a chance to ask her question. "How have you lasted so long?"  
"The innocent are the first to go." He answered coolly, then shook his head. "I'm sorry Raven, I don't have the answers you want." He moved past her and started for the door, "I'll be back before the end."  
"Wait," Robin tried, and failed, to call him back. "Something doesn't add up. Where do you get the money to survive?" Robin's eyes narrowed at the man's back. It was obvious that he was looking for an excuse to take him down.  
Caspia, didn't even slow down, "I'm a mechanic."  
"Really," Cyborg jumped to his feet, "You know I got this sweet little number downstairs and..." He didn't see the eyes on him, but he could feel them. He sat back down, "I mean... good for you."  
As he was almost at the door, Raven surprised everyone, "Do you have a place to stay?" He normal deadpan had returned, "We have some spare rooms if you don't."  
"Raven!?" Robin began, but his protest fell on deaf ears.  
"Do you?" Raven repeated. Caspia shook his head. "Alright, Follow me."  
Raven moved in front of her attacker turned guest and led the dumbfounded man into the hall and away from her equally dumbfounded friends.  
  
************************************************************  
  
Raven slipped into her room and let the familiar darkness envelop her as the door slid home. She was being stupid, she knew it, but she also knew that there was something she could still learn from Caspia. Things he was trying not to tell her.  
I won't be broken again.  
The innocent are the first to go.  
Those two sentences repeated themselves in her head. They were the key to her continued survival. The questions were: What had happened to him? And, Was it worth the cost?  
Somewhere behind her eyes, Raven felt her father laugh.  
  
***************************************  
  
End of the fourth part, no idea when the next chapter will be out. My time's being monopolized as late. 


	5. Mirrors

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, WB and DC do. I do, however, own Caspia and Breon, whom I borrowed from something else I've written.  
  
Notes: Finally, chapters 3-5 were meant to be one short chapter, but here's where we ended up. Either way, enjoy.  
  
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Part 5: Mirrors  
  
Raven had been sitting in her room for an hour now. It felt like the day should be over, but it wasn't. Not even close. It wasn't even noon.  
She'd been through a lot lately and had, only an hour before, been told that she had very little time left to live. There was also a dangerous man, who had tried to kill her, staying in the tower; at her invitation. Her friends weren't happy that there was a dangerous man in the tower, and they were even less pleased that he was here on an invitation.  
What surprised her was that this was depressing her. She had been fairly certain for years that her father would one day take control, but it was something else to have someone confirm her fears. It was also oddly comforting to know that there was someone who wouldn't hesitate to take her down when it happened.  
Raven glanced at the mirror that she kept on her desk. It held no answers, only a way to talk to her father, which never yielded anything. The only answers left were the ones her guest were keeping hidden, and he was almost certainly asleep right now after being awake for most of the night.  
She decided to do what she normally did: She left her room to meditate on the roof.  
When she opened the door Raven began to suspect that destiny has a schedule to keep. Her guest was there, standing at the edge of the roof, staring into the city.  
Trying not to be noticed, Raven quietly slipped onto the roof, careful not to step on the bloodstain still visible from her and Alex Caspia's previous fight, and closed the door.  
"Hello Raven." Alex called out, not bothering to turn around.  
Raven shrugged to herself at the minor defeat, "I'm impressed."  
"Don't be," He said, still not turning around, "you smell of demon. Hard to miss if you know about it."  
"Did you get that from your father?" Raven asked as she moved beside him at the edge.  
"Yes."  
The two stood there, each trying to ignore the other. The silence that Raven so often sought began to weigh down on her. She wanted, and didn't want, to ask one question. The answer could either save her or condemn her Ignorance almost seemed better  
"Beast Boy offered to get my stuff from the motel where I was staying." Caspia said suddenly, "The others went out to stop some bank robbers."  
"They do that." Raven said flatly.  
The silence returned, broken only by the gentle whistle of the wind. Raven watched him out the corner of her eye, he seemed to be staring at one spot in the city.  
"You have four choices." He said quietly, still not looking at her. "But you won't like any of them."  
"What are they?"  
Caspia sighed slightly, "I come back and kill you in a few months, hopefully before you lose it; I kill you now and be sure; you run and let your father take over..." He paused as he looked up at the sky; not really seeing anything, "Or you take over my job, you'd probably be able to keep going until you were eighteen, maybe a bit more."  
Raven looked to her guest as he turned his attention back to the city. She knew he was serious.  
"There are over a hundred half-demons in this city." Caspia said, as though it were something that had only just occurred to him, "Nine are possessed by their fathers."  
He paused and it sounded as though he changed the subject again, "There's a young woman down there who was raped last year. Rita Fennel. She had a child because of it." He finally turned to Raven, "She's an accountant and a great mother. She loves her little Sam more than anything else in the world."  
Raven met his eyes. "Why are you telling me this?"  
"You're smarter than that, Raven." He said coldly, bending down to pick up the piece of the satellite dish stand that he had been hit with a week before. He began to idly thumb the jagged edge on one side.  
His voice became matter-of-fact "You know, funny thing, my wings don't care about cloth, but I can't call them through metals." He looked at the small cut on his thumb, "It's a good thing that no one's ever figured that out; if they threw a dagger in the right place I could fall off a cliff without being able to save myself." As he finished he looked at the bit of metal in his hand, shrugged, then tossed it behind him onto the rooftop.  
Raven watched as the sharp bit of steel bounced onto the concrete roof. Alex was looking out over the water, intentionally oblivious to everything else in the world. Three more years, at least, were in that small piece of metal; and Alex was offering it to her. It was too tempting.  
Despite herself, she reached her power out to the improvised knife and raised it off the ground. She held it there, the point aimed for his exposed back.  
And held it.  
Raven let it fall with a clatter.  
Caspia nodded his head knowingly, if slightly disappointedly, "It's not easy, is it?"  
Raven avoided the question by looking hard at him, "You said I could have three more years, but you're older than that. What's so different about us?"  
Caspia's eyes narrowed, "I don't talk about it."  
Raven raised an eyebrow, "You want me to kill you, but you won't tell me why?"  
He half smiled at her briefly, "Would you tell me why you tried to commit suicide, if I asked?"  
Raven almost jumped, but caught herself. Even so, her right hand moved over to her left wrist and began to rub it. "How did you know?"  
He shook his head, "I didn't; not for sure. But you're a beautiful young woman. You're not exactly shy," He pointed to her bare legs, "Yet you wear sleeves that barely show your fingers on arms that almost never come out of your cloak. I used to do the same thing." He held his wrist so that she could see it easily. Sure enough, Raven saw a white scar running down the inside of his forearm. She just hadn't noticed it before.  
The heavy silence returned again, but not for long. Caspia stepped past Raven, "I'm guessing you came up here to be alone, so I'll leave." He opened the door, "Please let your friends know that I'm going to see if I can't sniff out any others." The door closed and he was gone. Raven realized later that his last sentence was meant literally.  
The dark girl sat down on the edge of the roof. She had been given four choices, and two of them were very tempting. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but she was scared.  
The enemy she had been fighting all of her life was slowly gaining ground on her, and it didn't even have a body for her to fight. Now she was being forced to soul search in ways that she'd never considered before: Control was failing her; was acceptance the only way to stay human?  
Was the real reason she'd joined the Titans the hope that she'd be killed and not have to worry anymore?  
Raven wanted to survive, but more than that, she wanted to be able to live, in any way she wanted. Her father had taken that from her before she had even been born.  
There was only one kind of freedom allowed for her kind. Would she be strong enough to take over the job of giving it to others? Would her friends understand?  
No.  
They would never understand, and she couldn't expect them to try. They did not have the same weight on them; the same fears.  
Raven spent the rest of the day on the roof just looking out and thinking. Never once did she begin to meditate or chant her mantra. As night fell, she decided: As soon as he returned, Raven would find out what she could from Caspia, she would try becoming what he was.  
She could only pray to be forgiven.  
  
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Raven tossed and turned in her bed. Sleep had never been easy for her, but tonight was worse than normal. Caspia had returned, declared that he had found no more demons in the city and that he would leave them in the morning. He'd also thanked them for putting him up, but Robin seemed to have stopped listening after hearing that he was leaving. There was no love lost between those two. Raven wished that she knew why.  
Starfire had been happy simply knowing that she, Raven, was safe from harm for the next few months; and Beast Boy and Cyborg were slightly put out that he was leaving. They had spent the remainder of the evening trying to convince Caspia to train with them, but had failed.  
The sound of footsteps passed her room, but Raven didn't think much about it. It was just Starfire being lonely again.  
Raven hadn't been able to get him alone long enough to ask him to train her. She was beginning to doubt her own resolve, but she refused to act like an impatient schoolgirl and wake him.  
The footsteps came back and stopped near her door. Raven sat up, curious. Starfire was probably feeling guilty again about sleeping with Robin. For whatever reason, the Tamarranian girl thought that Raven was the best equipped to answer her questions.  
Raven, for her part, wished that Robin would sit Starfire down and explain to her that if he didn't want her there, he'd tell her.  
There was no sound of Starfire leaving, nor did she knock, "Open the door, Starfire." Raven called to the girl.  
The door slid open, though there was no light in the hallway beyond. Raven couldn't see anything. In the darkness, Raven heard her visitor step inside. "Don't come in my room."  
There was no answer, but the footsteps kept coming; faster now. Raven usually forgot that she had a sixth sense, but now she sensed something wrong. "Azarath..."  
The footsteps broke into a run.  
Raven jumped off her bed, putting the furniture between her and the intruder, "...Metrion..."  
The intruder's footsteps reached the side of her bed then stopped.  
"...Zinth..." Raven never finished the sentence. She saw a flash of light hit her in the chest, then oblivion took her.  
  
**********************************************************  
  
Slade watched through the viewscreen into the Titans' living room. Robin impressed him even more than he'd hoped when he'd escaped. Infecting himself with the probes had been a stroke of genius that even he had to acknowledge.  
There was only one quality that he had to break Robin of before he'd be the perfect apprentice: Loyalty. Three of the five were now laid out in the room, gagged and disabled, only Robin and Starfire remained. Slade also took his hat off to Robin for teaching him how to defeat his friends. Those 'Red X' videos were most entertaining, and informative. The stun guns were Slade's addition though, there were times when the simple approach was best.  
Slade's attention turned to the door as Robin was dragged into the room by his robot soldiers, followed soon after by a bound Starfire. Slade was slightly disappointed at how easily his robots had taken Robin, but he could correct that flaw as well.  
Starfire was thrown into the center of the room on top of the other three Titans. Raven groaned into her gag as she returned to consciousness from the sudden impact.  
Slade smiled behind his mask at the fury in Robin's eyes. He knew where Slade had learned how to disable his friends. He should, they had been taken down the same way that Robin himself had when he was Red X.  
Slade waited until the reality of the situation set in, "Release him." He commanded his soldiers. Robin was immediately set loose.  
"You're going to pay for this Slade!" Robin yelled as soon as he could. The young man grabbed one of his captors threw it hard into another. He was reaching for another when he heard Slade's voice.  
"Temper, Robin." Slade said far too calmly. He was pointing at something through the viewscreen. Slowly, Robin followed the finger to see Starfire with one of the robots holding a knife to her throat. The young man's arms fell limp to his sides in defeat. "You see, Robin? I don't need ropes to hold you, you've done that yourself. Your little friends are nothing more than a liability." He turned to the girl now held at knifepoint. "Especially this one."  
Robin watched helplessly as Starfire squirmed away from the blade, "If you hurt her I'll..." He began.  
"You'll what?" Slade said with mock curiosity. "Watch her die? No Robin, even you can't fix a slit throat. But don't worry, I'm not going to harm any of your friends tonight. That is, if you're good, of course."  
"What do you want?" Robin asked through gritted teeth.  
"Good boy, Robin." Slade said with satisfaction. "I'm here to prove a point: No matter where you go, no matter what you do, you can't escape me Robin. Not even in your tower. I will have my apprentice back."  
Robin almost growled, "I'll never join you Slade." To his side Robin heard Starfire cry out slightly, he turned to see a little blood on her neck. Robin turned back to the viewscreen, "Damn you."  
Slade looked pleased, "Language Robin, really."  
  
From across the room Starfire watched Robin's face. In his eyes she saw the pure hatred he felt for Slade burning brightly. The only thing that held him back from destroying everything of Slade's, and in so doing cause her to die, was his love for her, which also burned in his eyes. Starfire felt tears form in her eyes. She was terrified, but there was also a kind of joy. Joy that Robin really did love her as much as he said, and terrified, not only of the thought of dying, but also at how similar the love and hate in those eyes were.  
Another prick in her neck brought Starfire back to the more pressing matter.  
  
"Okay, you've made your point. Now get out of here!" Robin demanded again.  
Slade shook his head, "You really have to work on that temper, Robin." Slade looked past the young man, "You can come out now." He said to someone Robin couldn't see.  
It was Caspia. Robin hadn't heard him approach and had forgotten that he was in the tower. Everything made sense now. "You!" He cried out as he ran for Raven's guest. "You let them in!" Before Caspia could react Robin gave him a roundhouse to the face, knocking the other man down.  
Robin jumped at him again, but while he was in the air his target transformed. Moving faster than he thought something that big could, a leathery wing slipped under and caught him. A quick flare of those wings later and Caspia sent Robin flying back across the room.  
As his one time apprentice landed gracefully on his feet, Slade said, "Excellent Robin. Suspicion, vengeance, even without my guidance you are progressing. However, I don't need help to get past such simple security" He turned to the newcomer, "As for you: I see Robin has been recruiting, but I have no use for amateurs. Destroy him." He commanded his robots.  
Two of them ran for the young man. The first was knocked aside with a slash of claws that barely scratched the paint on his torso. As the second leapt for Caspia, the young man was already gathering light into his hand. He caught the soldier's chest in his glowing hand. A split second later, the soldier's back exploded in a shower of dancing light and shattered steel.  
"They're robots?" Caspia cried out in surprise as the broken body fell to the ground. Across the room, they heard someone clapping slowly.  
It was Slade. "Bravo. Little Alex Caspia, I presume."  
"Yes. You know me?" Caspia asked, folding his wings over his shoulders for comfort.  
Robin looked back and forth between the two. "What does he mean, 'little'?"  
Slade looked briefly to Robin, "Now, now, Robin, the adults are talking." He said condescendingly. He turned back, "It's been a long time Alex. I see that you've improved as well. My informants told me that you were dead."  
"Who are you?"  
"There was a time when you used to know me as, 'The Big Boss.'" Slade spoke the last word with a note of nostalgia.  
Caspia's eyes narrowed with hate. "You!" Robin had to approve, until Caspia's eyes began to glow blood red that is. The winged man fell to his knees shaking and holding his head with those too large hands.  
Slade didn't wait for him to regain himself, "Before you get angry, I'm not the one who sold you. In fact, I had someone there to buy you back when you destroyed the place."  
Caspia looked up, the red in his eyes only a mild, fading hue now. "What? They told me that you'd ordered it."  
Slade actually laughed once, "Ha. A mere hundred thousand? No, you're worth far more than that. And to a brothel? Really, Alex, do you think I'd have wasted your talents?" Robin saw the rest of the red drain from Caspia's eyes and was certain that Slade was smiling behind that mask. "Those two hid what they'd done for months, but when I found out, I wanted you back. I thought you'd died in that explosion. Pity I didn't know."  
Slade continued, looking Caspia straight in the eye, "Those two are still in my service. Join me, and I'll let you have them."  
Robin cut in again, "What is he, Slade? Your first apprentice?"  
Slade almost laughed again, "Apprentice Robin? No. But his kind have other qualities. He's a living weapon, Robin, and they make perfect lieutenants."  
Slade looked back to the other man, "I can make sure your father never takes over and you can have the ones who betrayed you. Do whatever you want with them." Slade watched as Caspia tried hard not to consider it. "Tear them apart; do what they did to you. Do whatever is in your nature to do, all I ask is that you serve me."  
"Don't you dare!" Robin yelled at Caspia.  
"Really, Robin," Slade said, "One more outburst from you and I'll be forced to punish you. I'd hate you have to do more damage to that little neck of hers. You seem rather fond of it." Robin, grudgingly, calmed down. Slade turned his attention back to the winged man, "I am curious, little Alex, why are you here?"  
The movement was fast, but Slade caught it. Caspia's eyes glanced very briefly at where Raven was laying bound and gagged on the floor. Under his mask Slade smiled, it was simply too perfect.  
"It seems we're in the market for the same thing." Slade said, satisfaction almost dripping from his voice, "Serve me and I'll let you train her. She'll be an excellent lieutenant for Robin some day."  
Slade watched as his old underling's hands began to glow a blinding white. This was the power that had destroyed so much before. If Alex accepted his offer then he'd have a powerful lieutenant, if he didn't then one day soon he'd make a beautiful swath of destruction. He couldn't lose.  
  
Caspia's eyes turned to the screen, "They deserve to die for what they did." His hands were now too bright to look at directly. Slade smiled again; this was easier than he'd hoped. "But I won't be my father!" He screamed suddenly as he brought his hands in front of him.  
Slade felt the fury build inside of him. At first he thought that Alex was aiming for the screen, however, on the edge of his vision he saw Robin smiling. The boy had figured out the demon's plan before Slade had, and that was the insult to injury.  
Before an order could be given, even before the robots' AI could react, a large bolt of white light shot forward, completely vapourizing the knife arm of the robot hovering over Starfire as well as a large portion of its torso.  
The soldier looked, almost puzzled, at the glowing hot crater where its arm should have been. Its consideration of the dismemberment was cut short as one of its comrades, propelled by an irate Robin, smashed into it causing a short in its circuitry.  
Slade could only watch the fight as pride and anger battled inside of him. Robin was indeed the perfect apprentice, but he'd just lost face with him. This would not go unpunished.  
He turned to the other man standing. Alex was trying to hold the soldiers back as Robin untied his friends. Dozens of tiny bolts fired rapidly from his hands, but without a chance to build up energy they could barely even scorch. Not that it mattered anymore. Slade's only consolation was that the Titans had no chance of taming either demon. Soon enough they would wreak their havoc on the city and, with luck, destroy the petty distractions to Robin's training.  
Slade turned off the screen and left to take out his frustration on some incompetent informants.  
**********************************************************  
  
Robin walked up the stairs to the roof, according to Raven that was where her guest tended to be found. He had disappeared as they were cleaning up the mess of robotic bodies that cluttered the living room.  
Raven had been right. Robin found him on the edge of the roof looking at the city. Robin could tell by his body language that he was angry. He was slightly puzzled as the young man seemed to sniff the air briefly when the door closed.  
"Yes?" Caspia asked without turning.  
Robin moved beside him, "Do you mind if I call you Alex?"  
"Yes."  
"Okay." Robin moved over a few feet, but stayed near the edge of the roof, "If it makes any difference, I'm sorry. I just thought that you were trying to make Raven be like you."  
"Thanks." The older man said sarcastically, still not looking at Robin.  
"I didn't mean it like that." Robin said, quickly, "I thought that you were, well, like Slade. I thought you were forcing her." Robin tried to read the man, but failed, "I'm sorry I accused you." Still no reaction. Robin tried again, "Then I'm sorry we found out about your secret, I know its hard having others learn your past."  
Caspia finally turned to look at the teenager. "You think I'm mad at you, don't you?"  
"Aren't you?" Robin cocked an eyebrow.  
Caspia turned back to the city, "I guess I am, but that's not it. I didn't want to remember that. Do you have any idea what its like to be a slave?"  
"Actually, I do."  
"Slade?"  
"Slade."  
"Either way, that's not it." Caspia sighed, "I'm losing it. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."  
Robin gave him a serious look, "There may be a place in the Titans for you, if you want it. Maybe we can help."  
Caspia gave a single small, half-hearted chuckle, "If you could, I wouldn't be here for Raven."  
"At least think it over, maybe there's something we can do." Robin turned to leave. "It's the least I can do after tonight." He went back to the door and left the man under the stars.  
"He won't join." A deadpan voice said as Robin hit the bottom of the stairs. Robin could just see the edges of Raven's hood as she leaned against the far side of a corner, her arms crossed over her chest. "And you don't want him to."  
The other Titans were also standing just around the corner, "Why not?" Beast Boy asked.  
"Yeah Rae," Cyborg added, "He kicked butt tonight, and I see the way you two talk, it'd be like having your big brother on the team."  
Starfire floated over, "I must concur."  
Robin came around the corner, "Yeah Raven, what's the big deal?"  
Raven pushed herself off the wall and began walking towards her room, her hands still crossed on her chest. Before she turned a corner she called back, "Because he didn't know they were robots."  
Starfire fell out of the air into a heap and the rest of the Titans stared in shock at their dark friend as their blood turned to ice.  
  
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No idea when the next will be out, but it shouldn't be too terribly long. Hope you're enjoying this and please drop a review for me if you do. 


	6. Echoes of the Past and Future

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, WB and DC do. I do, however, own Caspia and Breon, whom I borrowed from something else I've written.  
  
Notes: Okay, that took a while, didn't it? This chapter is kind of disappointing, I've written it three times and each time was bad, this is my latest and best try and it seems to work so here it is.  
Oh, and I've made an effort to explain the last line of the last chapter, I didn't think it was that confusing, but okay. So, Enjoy.

* * *

Part 6: Echoes of the Past and Future  
  
Beast Boy woke late that morning, the night before had been really exhausting. The young hero slipped out of bed and slipped into his clothes, a shower could wait until later, right now he was hungry.  
'I wonder what I should have for breakfast today.' He thought as he worked his boots onto his feet. He tied the laces and reached over to his nightstand where he kept his gloves. As he did so he saw his alarm clock, 'Better make that lunch.' He mentally corrected himself.  
Now ready to face the day, Beast Boy began the annoyingly long walk to the kitchen. Along the way he wondered which of the others would still be asleep.  
Cyborg, if anyone, Robin and Raven would be up, they always were, and if Robin was awake, then so was Starfire. 'I wonder how long it'll take for sleeping together to change into 'sleeping together''. Beast Boy grinned despite himself.  
Finally at the huge door, Beast Boy banished his naughtier thoughts and stepped through. Sure enough, Robin and Starfire were here, sitting on the couch. Raven wasn't here, in fact he very rarely knew where Raven was, but he was certain that she was awake.  
The young man was about to greet his friends when he noticed the look on Starfire's face. She was worried. A moment later Beast Boy knew why: Robin was watching the huge TV screen with an expression that balanced on the impossibly thin line between determination and obsession. On the screen were images that the tower's security cameras had taken last night; images of their new half-demon resident destroying a robot soldier.  
Robin had watched it four times since Beast Boy had entered the room and was about to start on his fifth. Starfire continued to look on, not at the screen, but at Robin, with that same worried expression.  
"Hey guys," Beast Boy started, but didn't get any response other than a slight nod from Starfire. "Dude, did you two even sleep?"  
Starfire finally turned away from Robin, "I did, but Robin has not." She turned back to him, "Please Robin, why do you persist in watching this depressing video?"  
Robin turned towards her, an unspoken apology in his eyes. "I have to know for sure." He said as he turned back to the screen.  
"But his intent is obvious." Starfire continued, "He believed he was fighting people, and did not hesitate to kill."  
On the screen the recording of last night's fight continued to play. Robin watched himself attack Alex, get caught on a wing and be thrown across the room.  
Robin hit a button on the remote and watched, again, as two robots leapt at the man in slow motion. One was slashed ineffectively across the chest by a clawed hand. It would have been accompanied by the dreadful shriek of nails on a chalkboard had Robin not muted the TV to avoid hearing it.  
The other soldier was caught in the air by Caspia's glowing hand. Robin hit the remote again and watched, frame by frame, as a blast of light tore through the machine's chest. As the broken body fell to the ground, Alex's eyes went wide in shock at seeing metal instead of blood. Again.  
Robin rewound the tape and started watching it again.  
Cyborg stepped into the living room yawning, "Morning Y'all!" He stopped when he saw Robin. He looked at Beast Boy, "Lemme guess, he's been doing that all night, hasn't he?"  
"Yep." There was more than a little irritation in Beast Boy's voice.  
Cyborg looked back to Robin, "Robin, he didn't know, and you know he didn't know. Hell, he'd probably even tell you he didn't know."  
Not turning from the screen Robin said, "Maybe, but Slade's got an angle on him."  
Cyborg walked over to his friend, "Hey man, I know you've got a sore spot when it comes to Slade, but it wasn't Slade that did that to him. You heard it yourself."  
"Hey," Beast Boy interrupted, "Speaking of him, where is Alex."  
"He is with Raven," Starfire told them, "They awoke much earlier than you and left. She said that he was teaching her 'Sniffing Out.'" She looked at Robin, "I am unfamiliar with that expression. What does it mean?"  
The three boys looked at each other briefly, "I have no idea." Robin told her. "But what's say we find out."

* * *

Raven and Alex walked down the city street. Every now and then someone's head would turn towards them as if they were sensing something about them, but no one seemed to give it another thought. Raven knew what it was, other than the fact that a girl was walking down the street in a cloak in broad daylight. Every few steps Alex would sniff at the air. It was a tiny motion, barely more than a slight flaring of his nostrils, but there was something unsettling about it.  
"This is pointless." Raven said to no one in particular.  
"You're the one who wanted to learn." Alex said matter-of-factly. Raven didn't reply.  
They kept moving. The only words that passed between them were quick discussions of which way to turn at intersections.  
"Something's on your mind." Alex said out of the blue while they were waiting for a streetlight to change.  
Raven nodded, even though the two weren't looking at each other. "It's what Slade said last night."  
The light changed and they started walking across the street, just before they reached the other side Alex answered, "I was eleven and weak. I had wings, no powers, not even claws yet." He sighed, but Raven barely heard it, "I was different, so I was valuable."  
"And someone sold you."  
"Yes."  
"How did you get out?"  
A young couple overheard the conversation, but assumed that they were actors bored with a script.  
Alex shrugged, Raven could tell that it was only for show while he thought of how to answer as little as possible. "I found out I had powers."  
Raven kept walking beside him, after a moment she asked another question, "Is that all there is to it?"  
"No, but I..."  
"...Don't talk about it." Raven cut him off, "I know."  
The silence that they always created together returned. Even passersby stepped away from them for fear of disturbing them. For a long time the only sound they made was the occasional sniffing from Alex.  
"Anything?" Raven asked, she was getting both anxious and bored. They'd been wandering for over an hour now.  
"Not yet."  
Raven was hoping for more of an opening, but kept talking anyway, "What kind of demon is Breon?"  
Alex actually stopped and blinked at his companion briefly in surprise. He composed himself and caught up with her, "I don't know, but he looks like a werewolf with wings." Raven nodded to herself: that explained a lot. "Trigon?" He asked her.  
Raven shrugged, "An overlord. I've only ever seen him in my mind."  
Alex raised an eyebrow, "Dreams?"  
Raven shook her head, "Meditation."  
Alex thought about this a minute, "Water or fire?"  
That surprised Raven and she actually had to smile slightly, "Mirror. How did you know about that?"  
"My mother was very spiritual. She taught my brother how to go in his head by staring at a candle." Alex sighed slightly again.  
Raven knew, even before she opened her mouth, what the answer would be, but somehow, she had to ask. "They're dead, aren't they?"  
"Yes." Raven knew the matter was closed. Alex changed the subject. "Are you sure you want to do this?"  
Raven narrowed her eyes at the man, "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't." She said harshly.  
Alex nodded as he kept walking beside her, "I hope you're right, because I smell one."  
Raven nodded as she pulled the hood over her head. The young girl closed her eyes and let her sixth sense feel the area around her. Try as she might, she couldn't feel the presence of any demons, half-breeds or otherwise, other than herself and Alex.  
After a moment Raven opened her eyes and looked at Alex, "Which way is it?"  
He just looked at her with an eyebrow cocked, making sure that she wasn't joking. "Upwind." He said simply.  
Raven rolled her eyes, more at herself than him; somehow she had expected something more... mystic.  
Raven closed her eyes again and focused her senses into the wind. There, on the edge of what she could feel, was a being that stood out among all the other people. A chaotic and malevolent aura much stronger than any normal human could ever hope to make.  
"I missed him." Alex said beside Raven, snapping her out of her trance. His eyes were narrowed, almost angry, as he smelled the air. Without warning he broke into a dead run towards where Raven had sensed the demon, leaving the dark girl to stare in confusion after him a moment before running to catch up.  
Raven had soon gave up on trying to outrun Alex and took to flying. "What's the matter?" She asked when they were beside each other again.  
Between breaths he answered, "I missed this one... I think he's.... about to change. We have to hurry."  
Raven looked at his feet briefly, at the rate he was going he'd be exhausted before they got anywhere near the demon. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." She said suddenly. In the same moment, a black band of dark energy wrapped around Alex's legs to stop him and the piece of sidewalk he was on ripped out of the ground to fly beside Raven.  
Alex found himself on his knees on a piece of concrete three feet off the ground. "Thanks." He said to Raven as he caught his breath.  
She nodded in acknowledgement, but Alex was sure that he saw the ghost of a smile on her face.

* * *

As Raven got close to where she'd sensed the demon she was greeted by a disturbingly unfamiliar sight: The police had gotten there first and were doing a good job of containing the problem.  
From the looks of it, it had gone mad in a mall that they passed; Paramedics were working to clear out the injured people.  
The biggest surprise came when they actually found the demon, namely because there were actually two. The other thing that surprised Raven was that they were much younger than she would have imagined. One was about fifteen, the other maybe twelve. Despite what Alex had told her the other night, Raven would have doubted that these two could be the ones they were looking for had she not seen the look in their eyes: Unconditional, maniacal hatred.  
The two demons were backed against a wall on a street just past the other end of the mall's parking lot. A large semi-circle of police, set about twenty meters from them and all of them with their weapons drawn, held them there.  
Raven landed and set her passenger down a short distance from the police line. "Who's in charge here?" She asked the first person she came across. The question was passed down the line until finally one man got up and came towards her.  
He was a sergeant and almost sneered at Raven as he talked, "I'm in charge, what do you want?" He began to glare down at her.  
Ignoring his hostility toward her Raven said, "I need you to get your men out of..." She wasn't allowed to finish.  
""Listen you little freak," The Sergeant spat, "I don't care what the Commissioner or the Mayor says. We don't need you punks coming in here and playing hero, we have these freaks under control so we don't need you freaks around messing everything up!"  
Raven held the man's gaze, but said nothing. There were times like these that she wished she were more like the others. Robin or Cyborg could talk their way through and Starfire had a way of being very convincing, somehow it was sad to disappoint her. Admittedly, Beast Boy would simply be laughed at.  
As it was, Raven just stood there, trying to think of something to say and taking a secret, dark pleasure in the knowledge that she could snap him in half on a whim. Raven blinked at her own thought and quickly buried it. "You're being foolish." Raven stated dryly, "We're better able to deal with them. Your people are in danger."  
"You think you're the only ones who can do anything in this city!" The Sergeant spat back. "My men can handle this!"  
"No, they can't." Both heads turned towards Alex, who, until now had been completely forgotten.  
The Sergeant's face changed again. Any grudging respect he had for Raven because of her position and powers left his face. Caspia wore no badge, no insignia, nothing to show any kind of status and was dressed in old jeans and a borrowed T-shirt that was three sizes too large for him. As far as the Sergeant was concerned, he was nothing but a common punk.  
"And just what do you know about it?" He asked Caspia.  
Caspia gave a small, inward half-chuckle, "More than you ever want to."  
The two men glared at each other. To the side, Raven rolled her eyes at them. She had seen this kind of thing before when Cyborg and Robin bumped heads. Beast Boy called it a pissing contest. Whatever the reason and whatever the name, they did not have time for it.  
She heard a collective gasp behind her from the police line. 'And now,' She thought dryly, 'We're too late.'  
All three heads turned just in time to see a squad car being lifted from the ground by a tiny, but incredibly intense tornado. Behind it, the older of the two demon boys' hands glowed a deep emerald green as they moved in the air, controlling the wind, and the car, as a puppeteer controls a marionette.  
Raven heard the car crash back to earth somewhere behind her, most likely in the parking lot, but had learned not to take her eyes off her enemy. Unfortunately, many of the officers were more easily distracted. While their eyes were turned the area around the older boy became a vortex of wind. Manhole covers, loose bricks and all manner of roadside debris were lifted into the air and flung towards the police line like buckshot from hell.  
Some of the officers were able to dodge , others were simply lucky, most weren't and were struck down. Using her power Raven was able to catch the brick and piece of newspaper stand coming towards her as well as the sewer grate threatening the Sergeant. Beside her, Alex sidestepped as a shopping cart whizzed by.  
While the shaken police stumbled back to their feet the ground shook as the younger of the two boys' hands began to shine a light sapphire. A second later he threw his blue hands over his head causing a giant gash in the street between the boys and the police as a water main below ripped open. The water did not fall back to earth, but instead remained there as a clear, shimmering wall.  
By now some of the men had regained their presence of mind and began to fire at the boys. The wall of water turned a churning white as dozens of bullets were fired into it, but not a one reached their intended target. Just beyond the wall, no more than three feet, the ground was carpeted with spent rounds stopped almost dead by the magical water. One by one, reality set in on the police and they just stopped firing.  
Across the street, a sadistic grin crept over the face of the older, wind controlling demon boy. His hand raised with exaggerated slowness until he pointed at a random policeman. His finger glowed green again and the terrified man it pointed at barely had time to shriek before he was flung away by another small tornado.  
Raven gathered her powers to fly after him but was forced to forego the rescue. "Why you little...!" The Sergeant yelled out, his fist flying at Raven's face.  
Since her power was already gathered Raven was able to cast a barrier with a thought, even without looking directly at him. The Sergeant's fist stopped as though he'd punched a girder and the pain now on his face told Raven that the hand was probably broken.  
Raven fought back the anger brewing inside her, the delay had lasted too long and the poor man was beyond where she could save him. She could only hope that he'd landed somewhere soft.  
The Sergeant staggered back in pain and fear as Raven turned to him, "Your man is dead because of your stupidity," Her voice was in her usual dry, matter-of-fact tone, but traces of her anger slipped in and terrified the man more, "We had nothing to do with it and it could have been prevented. Now get the rest of them out of here so we can do our job." She demanded. He didn't need to be told a third time, within a minute the police were gone, those that weren't injured supporting or carrying those who were.  
Raven, now alone save for Alex, looked through the wall of water that still stood between them and the demons. "Why are there two?" Finally had a chance to ask.  
"Happens." He said simply, "No idea why, just one goes and another one nearby turns too."  
Raven nodded, more to herself than to her companion. She stared into the demons' eyes, at that maniacal rage that she imagined in her own every time that her father threatened to take over. That look was growing more intense by the minute which meant that the boys' fathers were taking control, they were getting more dangerous by the minute.  
The young, dark girl steeled herself for what was to come. The battle was certainly going to be hard, but when the dust cleared at least two of the four on the street now would be dead. She would probably have to take a life; it was something she'd always sworn never to do. Fear, anger and uncertainty swelled within her, threatening to cause her powers to surge out of control, but she fought them back down. She took a deep breath.  
Raven noticed that the attention of the two demon boys was directed at Alex, so she chanced a look over. She blinked, "What are you doing?" She asked incredulously.  
Caspia had changed, when exactly Raven had no idea, had his arms up in the air and was wrapping his wings tightly around his body under his armpits. Caspia adjusted his right wing a little then dropped his arms, "That guy," He jerked a thumb towards the older demon, "is a wind demon. I'd rather not be a walking kite."  
Raven shook her head sadly, "Perfect." She said sarcastically, "I'm fighting demons with a guy in a leather mumu."  
Caspia gave Raven a sideways look, but not because he was insulted; he was deciding something. He seemed reluctant.  
'These demons are being remarkably patient.' Raven thought as the standoff continued.  
"Raven," Caspia said finally, "I think the water demon's the weaker of the two. Do you think you can take him?" There was deep concern in his voice, he didn't want her to have to fight alone, but there was no other way now.  
Raven nodded at him and she saw him nod in return. He wasted no other words before he took off at a sprint toward the wind demon, light already gathering in both his hands. Raven saw him jump in time to avoid two tornadoes like the one that had doomed the policeman. When he reached the wall of water he released the light in his hands in dozens of small bolts, blasting a hole through it that he leapt through before it could reform.  
Raven turned back to her own opponent, he still stood there with his sapphire hands over his head simply holding the wall in place between him and her, but his attention was turning toward the winged man who had just broken through his defense.  
Seizing the opportunity, Raven reached out with her power to grasp things she could use as weapons, mostly pieces of debris that were thrown her way earlier. The same brick she'd caught before and a fire escape ladder that had still been attached to a building were among the dozen or so items that she raised up beside her at the ready. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" She cried out to boost her power, all of which she used to fling the debris into the wall of water.  
The wall stopped her attack, but she continued to push the debris into the water. Through the water she could see her enemy strain against the pressure she caused. The edges of the wall began to fall away until all that was left was that which held back Raven's assault.  
Both were beginning to feel the strain of the constant effort and Raven could feel the sweat pouring down her face. It had become a battle of sheer will.  
And Raven was about to cheat.  
Releasing some of the pressure from the objects forcing the wall, Raven used it to grab hold of another brick laying on the other side of the broken main. With a sudden exertion of will she sent it flying into the demon's skull with a loud crack. The demon and the rest of his wall fell to the street and Raven just abandoned her weapons and let them tumble.  
Now free of all demonic energies the water main began to spout and flood the street. Raven was just thinking about how she hated wet shoes when she realized her mistake: She hadn't actually made sure the demon was unconscious and he could control all the water around him.  
Acting on instinct Raven launched herself straight up out of the water just in time to avoid the liquid arm that reached up after her. She watched in self-irritation as the demon rose up with that same sadistic grin even though its temple was bleeding profusely.  
Seeing that look on the face of a boy who hadn't even reached puberty was still disconcerting to the Titan, even after all she'd seen him do.  
With a wave of his young arm the demon changed the arm of water into the form of a gigantic snake that attacked girl. Raven tried to outfly it, but the snake was just a form of water being fed directly from the broken main. Went she tried to outmaneuver it, it could simply flow back through its own body without even slowing down.  
Raven decided that the only chance she had was to overpower it. Chanting her focusing words in midair she suddenly stopped, surprising the demon controlling the snake, and cast the strongest barrier she could directly in front of the water snake's head.  
Literally tons of water slammed into the shield, forcing her back in the air, but the mass of water was forced harmlessly out and around her body. It was only when the pressure stopped that she realized her mistake.  
The water that had flowed around the outside of her barrier had not fallen back to earth, but had stayed where it was. Raven tried to gather the energy to try and break free but it was far too late. In the blink of an eye the water slammed into her from all directions, trapping her in a sphere of liquid that harshly forced against her body at the will of its master.  
At first it only held her in place while the sphere itself moved down so that the young demon could watch closely as she drowned. Then, with a wave of the demon's hand, the water began to force its way into her body. She was able to keep her mouth shut against the pressure, but she had no defense against its invasion of her nose.  
Once again, Raven felt the despair grow inside of her as she felt the water force its way through her sinuses. Air was being forced out of the way as the water wormed steadily towards lungs that were already burning from lack of air. She felt the anger rise in her, she didn't want to die, but to let go would be to allow her father to take control.  
She was scared.  
She didn't want to die.  
She was not going to die like this.  
Fueled by the despair, Raven gathered every scrap of power she could into her core. Then she released her anger.  
A mass of pure darkness grew from Raven's center to blast apart the sphere of water. The energy released was so intense that the young demon, now only inches from the sphere, was knocked backwards onto the ground.  
Even as she fell to the street, Raven mentally grabbed hold of her emotions and forced them back into submission. Even so, she could feel the red flash in her eyes.  
She looked over to where the demon was beginning to get back to his feet. With the last bit of power she had ready Raven reached out and wrapped a band of dark energy around its neck. A moment later it finally fell forward into the ankle deep water on the street.  
Raven thought about it a moment, then flipped him over so he wouldn't drown.  
Exhausted, Raven stumbled over to the dryness offered by the raised sidewalk where she collapsed to finally cough the water out of her body.  
Raven began to take deep, refreshing breaths when she remembered that she was not alone on the battlefield. She turned to see Caspia in the midst of what could only be called a localized hurricane. The wings wrapped around his body snapped and flapped in the wind like a flag in a gale and scores, if not hundreds, of normally harmless objects flew through the air with bone crunching force. Every three or four seconds, just enough time to gather enough energy, a bolt of light would fire from Caspia's hand. Every time they hit a random object, either to stop it from hitting him or the object blocked a shot at the demon himself.  
Through it all Caspia struggled steadily toward the wind demon.  
Also, to Raven's surprise, the teenage boy now sported a pair of wings; longer than Caspia's and almost bare. As she watched, even as the two fought, Raven could see the flesh of the wings and the back flow out and form, much like modeling clay, into row upon row of feathers. When each one was finished the outer, flesh-toned layer became dust in the wind to reveal the most beautiful shade of sky blue Raven had ever seen.  
Now she understood. When Caspia said that the children become their fathers he'd meant it physically and well as mentally.  
Raven had recovered enough to stand just as the wind demon's wings were completed. They were beautiful, long and graceful things designed for soaring in the air; a sharp contrast to Caspia's black, leathery and barely usable ones. In fact, Raven had yet to see Caspia use those wings at all. That was about to change.  
As soon as the last feather's casing had fallen away the wind demon changed his tactic. Casting a huge updraft immediately below himself he rose up nearly six stories to hover on a cushion of his own wind, apparently safe from his attackers. The demon was mistaken.  
Caspia had told Raven and the other Titans that he could only glide for a minute or so and that was all he needed. Before the wind demon could finish his ascent Caspia flung himself into the updraft and, with a painful snap of his wings, rode it up as well.  
The spike of light appeared in Alex's hand as he rose even as he gritted his teeth against the strain of holding his wings out into the wind. Before the demon knew what was happening Alex was on him.  
An instant before they met in the air the sword sliced through the air, cleanly severing one of those perfect, blue wings and sending it flying. The upward momentum of the heavier, older man sent the two almost another full story up.  
As the demon howled in pain Alex moved quickly to dispel his sword and get behind the demon where he drove both of his clawed hands deep into its back to grip its ribs directly. The demon howled again, but there was no way it could throw him off now.  
Next, those dark leathery wings wrapped around both bodies, pinning the demons wings down so that it had no chance to even slow their descent.  
Raven was snapped out of her almost trance-like state of watching of the airborne fight when the blue wing landed right beside her like a length of wet canvas.  
Back in the air the two plummeted back down to earth. The demon struggled, but Caspia was in control. Mere feet from the ground Caspia released the demon and kicked off of him, sending it into a wall. Alex's wings snapped open again to slow his fall, even so he hit the ground hard, but not nearly as hard as his enemy.  
Raven was certain the fight was over, but she was proven wrong.  
Slowly, painfully, the wind demon staggered to his feet using the wall for support.  
Across the street Alex was on his feet as well. Calling on a reserve of energy he charged towards the demon. Seeing him coming, the demon began to summon his wind again, but it was too late. Alex knocked the demon's hand aside, and with it the wind attack, with his left while thrusting forward with his right. The demon howled in pain as the sword, which had returned to Alex's hand, pierced its heart and pinned it to the wall.  
Raven had thought she understood. She was wrong.  
What happened next finally opened her eyes.  
The demon wasn't dead, not yet. Its fingernails sank deep into Caspia's sword arm tearing deep gashes along it, but the young man shook them loose. Twisting his body around, he pulled his writhing sword from the demon's body. In that same cold, practiced move he brought that shining blade around, cleanly severing the demon's head from its torso.  
It was then, in that moment, that Raven understood horror.  
Raven had always assumed somehow that when people die their bodies just turn off, regardless of how they lose their lives. Again, she was wrong. The head rolled across the ground, its mouth open in a silent, twitching scream of pain as the rest of him, still against the wall, and somehow still standing, went into convulsions.  
The demon's bowels had voided themselves in death. Raven felt the bile rise in her throat as that smell mixed with the overpowering scent of blood.  
Then there was Alex. She saw him and stepped back in fear. He stood there with wings spread wide, being showered with blood from a body too stupid to know that it was dead. His own blood streamed down his arm to sizzle and boil against the sword at the end; filling the air at his hand with a vile, black smoke. In spite of it all, his face remained impassive: colder than even Raven could have thought possible.  
The young girl saw her future then. She saw herself standing there, superimposed over Alex, her robes stained red and a dark raven's claw in place of the blade.  
Raven couldn't find the strength of will to move until she saw Alex start towards the other demon who still lay unconscious on the street. The girl looked at the demon she'd defeated and saw him as the boy he'd been an hour earlier. He was young, no older than Beast Boy. He was just a child. She looked to Alex, now the very image of a demon from Hell.  
Raven had crossed too many lines today already. Something inside of her snapped.  
She stepped between them. "No." She said bluntly.  
"Raven." Alex said slowly, his voice dangerous and his eyes were hued slightly red, "What are you doing?"  
"I can't let you do this." Raven readied her powers, causing her hands to glow black.  
Alex got angry, "Dammit Raven! We've been over this! Of all people I'd have thought you..." He pointed at Raven with his right hand, which also brought his blade up to Raven's eye level.  
Raven's conscious brain told her that she was in no danger. Alex was ten meters away and even at the full extension of his arm his blade could only reach about two. She also knew that he would never use that blade on her, at least not until she lost control.  
Her unconscious brain, however, decided to react. Raven and Alex both stared, unbelieving, at the arrow of dark energy that was suddenly lodged in the base of Alex's blade. A split second later, the energies mixed.  
Raven watched helplessly as the now familiar distortion of light seemed to cause Alex's hand to implode even as it was blasted back. The blade vanished and Alex staggered backwards to keep his balance only to fall to his knees in pain. He gripped the wrist of his injured hand with his left, almost as though displaying Raven's handiwork for her to see. His hand was ragged and raw, bleeding and burned with at least two broken fingers.  
Raven could not see his face: it was lowered as he gasped in pain. She allowed her power to dissipate. Words that she had often spoken to others echoed in her head: We cannot change the past, no matter how much we don't like it.  
There was nothing to say, nothing to do. She just stood there helplessly in guilt.  
Slowly, painfully, Alex raised his good hand and pointed it towards Raven. It began to glow and grew brighter until small arcs of light played between his fingertips.  
Raven braced herself for the hit, but it never came. Instead he lifted his head to look at her. The white-hot anger that Raven expected to see wasn't there. The only thing in those eyes was a look of disappointment; disappointment in her. Raven couldn't explain why, but it tore at her heart.  
"Just get out of the way." Alex said quietly. Raven simply nodded, noting the disgust in his voice. She was about to turn when Alex's eyes went wide with surprise. Before she could ask what was wrong she heard a crystalline sound that could only be made by a starbolt. The green ball of energy passed over her shoulder to strike Alex square in the chest; flinging him off the ground to land in a crumpled heap some five meters down the street.  
All four of the other Titans ran past Raven to protect her from Alex. "I knew he was trouble." Robin said harshly, pulling one of his exploding discs from his belt. "And now we're going to take him down."  
Robin threw the disc at the prone Alex with his usual accuracy, but it was stopped mid-flight by a bubble of dark energy. After it exploded harmlessly inside the shield, Raven let the debris fall to the ground.  
The Titans all turned to Raven in shock. Robin was obviously confused and more than a little angry, but he had come to trust Raven's judgment. "What are you doing?" He asked.  
Raven opened her mouth to answer, but another voice came before hers. "Fine!" It was Alex, they all turned back to him. His right hand, and now one of his wings, lay useless on the ground. It took him three tries to get to his hands and knees. When he pushed himself back to kneeling they could see the large burn on his chest that Starfire had made.  
The anger that Raven had expected before was now burning in his eyes, threatening to push him over the edge. Alex staggered to his feet and held his chest with his one good hand. "I warned you," He continued, "If you refuse to listen then it's not my bloody problem!"  
He gave them a look of utter disgust before starting to stagger away, his limp wing dragging along the ground behind him. As he slipped between two buildings and out of sight Beast Boy came to his senses and ran after him, only to be lifted off the ground by Raven powers before he'd moved three steps.  
"Let him go." Raven said bluntly when she'd set her friend back on the ground.  
Beast Boy looked at her as though she'd grown another head. "What's the deal Raven? He's hurt!"  
Raven gave him a cold stare that would have frozen mercury, "I know." Those words carried the finality of an executioner's axe and Beast Boy knew better than to stick his neck out again.  
Raven stepped away from her friends and moved beside the unconscious body of the young boy who was now a water demon. Her logical mind told her that she should listen to Alex and kill him, but she couldn't, neither could any of the others. She knew without asking that the others wouldn't even discuss it.  
For one of the few times in her life, Raven had absolutely no idea what to do.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed, this time I'm making no promises as to when the next will be finished, but know that it will be made. 


	7. Mitigation

Disclaimer: Standard set: Except for Breon and Caspia, I don't own these characters. The WB and DC do. Nor do I have their permission.  
  
Author's notes: Not as happy with this as I could be, but it came out pretty well. Right now I'm more interested in getting to the next chapter which should be the last save for an epilogue. It should be really cool.  
Also, its been brought to my attention the Caspia is a variant on Raziel from Soul Reaver. For those wondering about this, it really wasn't intentional, it just happened that way. In any case, Enjoy.

* * *

Part 7: Mitigation  
  
Heavy footsteps echoed down the deserted hallway Cyborg walked. In his hands was a small tray of food. Chicken and rice: Simple fair, but after the day they'd had he doubted anyone could hold down anything richer. As the young man got closer to his destination the hallway changed drastically: The bathroom door was unable to open due to its being bent at nearly forty-five degrees; in places the walls were bent out as if hit by a massive hammer; the floor would have been cracked, but the ceiling had melted and filled it in nicely.  
Cyborg reached his destination: Raven's room. The door was lying on the floor about a foot into the room, this time it wasn't his fault. He chanced a quick peek into the dark girl's room to find her sitting cross- legged on her bed meditating. Cyborg breathed a sigh of relief; she was back to normal.  
The damage to the hall had been her doing, but she was again in control of her powers.  
Cradling the tray in one hand Cyborg knocked loudly on the doorjamb, "Hey Rae?" He called into the room gently, "Brought something for ya."  
Very slowly Raven opened her eyes and looked at her friend, then at what he was carrying. In control of her emotions or not, Cyborg could see the sad guilt on the edges of her eyes.  
The robotic youth continued, "I even brought you some of your tea." He said lifting her favorite mug, white with a thick, purple stripe, it had steam rising out of it. Raven just looked at him. "I'll just leave these here in case you get hungry." Cyborg finished, putting the tray just inside her door, but being very careful not to actually step into her room.  
Raven continued her silent stare until Cyborg moved to leave. "How are they?" She asked just before he was gone.  
Cyborg stopped and tried to put on a happy face. "Beast Boy and Robin are doing fine. They'll be making my life hard by morning."  
"What about Starfire?" Raven actually choked a little on the last word.  
All pretense of happiness fell away from Cyborg's face. "Listen Rae." He said after a moment, "You can't blame yourself for what happened. None of us do."  
Raven's eyes locked hard onto Cyborg's. "What happened was because I couldn't do what I should have. I let my emotions get in the way."  
"He wanted you to kill a kid!" Cyborg almost shouted.  
"And if I had," Raven stated matter-of-factly, "none of this would have happened." Cyborg visibly deflated, he couldn't disagree with that, but Raven continued, "I made a mistake, and I will deal with it."  
Cyborg nodded sadly and walked away leaving Raven to her solitude. The young man just started to walk away, trying to lose himself in the winding hallways of the Tower.  
Eight hours. It had taken eight hours for their lives to go straight to hell. He'd gotten up this morning to Robin being his usual obsessive self; the night before: Slade had attacked them, but that was okay, that happened. Everything had made sense; a remarkably skewed version of sense considering he lived with four other superheroes, granted, but all had been right in the world.  
Now... Cyborg could barely even think it. Tears began to stream from his human eye and he fell to his knees against the cold steel wall. Out of sheer helpless frustration he slammed his robotic fist once, twice, three times against the wall, each time leaving a perfect impression of his fist in the tempered steel.  
Why? Why had it been Starfire? Why not any of them? Himself, Robin, Raven, even Beast Boy would have been better.  
Cyborg's attention came back to reality when he heard a polite cough beside him. The first thing he saw, being on his knees, was a right hand encased in a cast.  
"Haven't you done enough?" Cyborg asked, not bothering to get up. The person beside him stayed silent. "Listen man, I'm sorry for what happened, Raven told us what went down out there." Still no response. "Look, I know your beef's with the girls, but leave them alone, will ya?"  
It was Caspia. Cyborg kicked himself mentally for not resetting the security. Since he was a guest they had made the system recognize him as friendly and Cyborg's mind was on other things instead of making sure he didn't come back.  
Cyborg very slowly got up, placed his hands against the wall and leaned heavily against it. He was in much the same position that a cop puts a person he's arresting. "Take it out on me if you want." Cyborg said, pleading with the man, "just leave 'em alone."  
"I won't hurt her." Was all Caspia said to Cyborg as he passed by the metal teenager.  
Cyborg, feeling totally overwhelmed by the day, just smashed his fist into the wall again, but made no move to follow half-demon. He noticed that he was walking stiffly, but after what Raven and Starfire had done to him earlier, it was amazing that he was walking at all.

* * *

Raven watched calmly as Cyborg walked away from her room. When she was sure he was gone she slowly pulled her left sleeve back along her arm to reveal an old, deep scar across her wrist. She knew now that the right way to cut a wrist was down along the vein, not across. Had she known three years ago then maybe the Titans wouldn't be in the position they were now.  
Raven sighed slightly, in the drawer of her bedside table was a razor blade. The same one she'd used before. She wasn't quite sure why she'd kept it, but it was in there nonetheless.  
Not that it would do her any good. Caspia had trained her well enough that she knew the instant he was in the Tower. She'd felt him stop by the infirmary, then by the bathroom. He could probably figure out what had happened and there was going to be hell to pay. If she cut her wrist he'd be here before she bled out, even if he didn't smell the blood, which she knew he would. She pulled her sleeve back up.  
Right now he was starting to move again after stopping in the hall briefly. Raven was looking at the door when he came into view; he was in human form. She could feel the physical pain she'd inflicted: his right hand and chest had been treated by a hospital, but the broken wing could not have been. Instead she felt the pain of it compressed and concentrated a thousand times over to make a tiny point of agony on his back.  
All told though, it was his face that drew Raven's eyes. It was that same look of disappointment bordering on disgust that she'd seen earlier in the day. Again, it tore at her, but she didn't know why.  
"You deserve a good, hard slap in the face." Caspia said harshly, but then softened, "What were you thinking?"  
Raven couldn't hold his gaze, "Cyborg went to find the police again. I went to find you. The others stayed to make sure he didn't get up and leave. We went back as soon as we got the distress signal, but it was over before we got there."  
Caspia gently sat on the bed beside her, "She had to kill him to save Robin and Beast Boy, didn't she?" It was a rhetorical question, so Raven answered by not answering. The young man continued, "Killing is the worst thing anyone has to do, Raven. For us its different, it's in what we are. We can justify it differently." He turned and looked at Raven, who still wasn't looking at him, "But for someone like Starfire, it'll haunt her for the rest of her life."  
"How are they?" Raven asked hoping to get more of an answer from him than she got from Cyborg.  
Caspia shrugged, "The boys are okay considering they almost drowned. They're both still out, but that's to be expected. I imagine they'll be up soon. Starfire..." He paused briefly as he sighed, "She's in one of the bathrooms trying to vomit up her toes. I take it she's been in there since you got back."  
Raven nodded, "What can I do?"  
"You hope they get over it." The young man told her. "The boys could wind up being afraid of water for the rest of their lives and Starfire might be too afraid to fight ever again, or worse."  
The usual silence fell on them again. Out of a simple need to have something to do Raven began healing Caspia's injuries. The young man didn't even notice until he heard the snap of his fingers fusing back together. Without a word between them Caspia changed into his demon form to allow Raven access to his wing. She was finished and had begun working on his chest burns before either spoke.  
"I'm in this too." Caspia told Raven as he shredded his now useless cast. "And I should have told you everything from the beginning, I'm sorry. Here's the best I can do: Ask me anything, I'll tell you everything I can."  
Finished healing him, Raven sat back down on her bed. "Why haven't we changed?" Raven asked after a moment.  
Caspia chuckled softly, "That's a loaded question." He looked at the ceiling for a moment. "Nietzsche." He said simply, "That which does not destroy us, only makes us stronger. Someone like Starfire, or Beast Boy, they wouldn't last a minute against a demon father." Caspia looked at Raven, "Something happened to us to make us stronger than most people. Strong enough to hold it back, but Raven," He caught her eyes, "We're already changing, all we've done is slow it down." He brought his inhuman, clawed hands in front of her eyes as proof. "Every change, every power, is a piece of our fathers that's become part of us."  
"It can take years," Caspia continued, "But we are getting weaker. Eventually we just can't fight it anymore and everything left that's human is gone in a day."  
Raven nodded. She could feel Trigon inside of her, constantly pushing to get free, and he was getting stronger by the day. When she was young she had been separated from her mother and one of her caretakers, fearing her powers, had tried to send her to hell. The caretaker was sent instead, but Raven had been given a good look at the horrors of the other side. That was when it began for her, but she'd also had the training of those of Azarath to help her stay in control.  
"What happened to you?" Raven asked, almost without meaning to.  
Caspia sighed again, closing his eyes. "Bear with me." He said in a whisper, "There are two schools of thought among demon hunters. One way, the one I use, is to try and be there when the child goes nuts. Sometimes, I'll attack a child before then to scare them, force them to get stronger. I can sometimes give them an extra two years or so. That's what I was trying to do to you the first time we met." He looked to the girl again and saw the ghost of a nod.  
"The other way," The man continued, looking back at the wall beside the bed, "Is to kill them all as soon as you find them. I met one of them once; when I was ten." Raven turned to look at the man with a shocked expression. However logical, it was barbaric. Now she understood what he'd meant one the roof the night before. He continued, "My brother and I... My twin brother and I..." He emphasized the word 'twin,' "...were playing hide and seek. He found my brother and killed him, then my mother, but he missed me. I don't know how.  
"I ran away, I haven't even seen their graves." He stopped for a minute to regain his composure. "Do you want me to keep going?" He asked Raven.  
"Please." Raven nodded.  
"Alright." He nodded back, "But this is the short version. I was found about a week later by those thugs Slade was talking about. In another week I was picking pockets for them, I was with them for almost two years. One day I picked the wrong pocket. One thing led to another and I got thrown off a building." Raven noticed a small shudder in the man beside her, "Usually powers manifest themselves when you need them, so, as I was falling, my wings appeared. I still broke my leg."  
"The next part you know." He said almost harshly. "Slade, the brothel. I don't remember much about the day I burned it down, I just remember waking up in the forest. I turned out to be somewhere in California. I was taken in by a nice guy this time: A mechanic. He taught me his livelihood. I only left him when Yolanda came."  
Raven cut in before he continued, "Yolanda?"  
Caspia shrugged an apology. "My teacher. Another hunter." He looked at Raven for a long time, "You and her have the same powers, but she could do something I've never even heard of in anyone else: If she got there fast enough she could actually break the father's control on someone." He looked away again, sad this time. "She was everything to me and it was her who gave me the control to make my blade." He lifted his right hand, but decided against summoning his sword, "Then one day we were fighting two new demons, just like you and I did this morning. I went after the weaker of the two. I killed it, but when I went back I saw her on the ground, dying."  
Caspia's face twisted in anger the red began to fill his eyes. Raven inched away and readied her powers just in case. Her friend was lost in his memories. "I told my father that if he gave me the power to kill the one who killed her I would let him win. He agreed. I don't remember what happened after that, but the demon was dead and I heard Yolanda in my mind. She brought me back." The red faded from his eyes and Caspia was again in reality. He closed his eyes and sighed again, "It was the last thing she ever did."  
He turned back to Raven, "That was three and a half years ago. Since then its been more of the same, forty-seven demons killed plus however many were in the brothel. Counting the time before I met you and when I was unconscious, this is the longest I've ever been in one city in a long time."  
They sat in silence again and again Caspia broke it. "For what its worth Raven, I'm sorry. Six months, max, and I'm gone. You have a few years left at best. There's no happy ending here, there's no redemption and there's no one who can save you. I know of at least ten hunters who came before Yolanda and no one has ever found a way out."  
Raven's face had become blank mask. She was struggling to keep her emotions in check, it was getting harder for her lately, but the only outward sign of it was of her fingers kneading the blanket she was sitting on.  
As it was she didn't even realize that her companion had moved until it was too late. In a single movement he was on her. She was pulled off of the bed and was held close to his body by his arms; his wings wrapped tightly around her body like a cocoon. All that could be seen of the girl was her head and feet.  
"Let go of me!" Raven cried out roughly, summoning a wave of energy to knock him off of her, but the energy never left her body. She realized now what he was doing. With his power in his blood canceling out hers he was effectively containing her by holding her like this. She tried to squirm out for all she was worth.  
"Raven," He said gently. "Let go, it's okay."  
She wanted to, by God she wanted to, but she knew that if she did she'd never be able to get back the control she had now.  
Raven shook her head slightly, but stayed where she was for a few seconds longer. It was warm, just like those all too perfect moments on the sitcoms she saw now and then. As soon as that thought entered her mind she gently pushed her way out, this time he yielded and released her. For a moment she'd felt safe like that, but she couldn't afford to let her guard down, ever.  
Caspia stepped back, "I'm sorry."  
"It's okay." She said, dryly, "But don't do it again."  
"Alright." He nodded, "I... Wait a minute." He said suddenly, cutting himself off. "That was a water demon." He looked out the window quickly, "Raven, how did Starfire kill it?"  
Raven's brow furrowed in confusion, "She blew its leg off. We checked, but it didn't have a pulse." She was getting worried.  
Alex continued, "Water demons don't bother using their hearts, it takes less energy to use their powers to make their blood flow. They don't have heartbeats."  
The two looked at each other as worried expressions came over their faces.  
"How much blood was there?" Alex asked again, "Not from the leg, from the body?"  
Raven's eyes widened at her own oversight, "Almost none."  
"Shit!" Caspia swore as he turned and ran for the door with Raven following a half step behind.

* * *

It was less than an hour later when Raven and Caspia returned to the Tower. They had found the demon in the morgue as it was reattaching its leg. Weakened from its two other fights that day it wasn't long before Caspia had removed its head.  
Raven had helped subdue it, but still refused to kill. Instead she opted to heal the minor cuts and bruises they'd picked up during the fight.  
Not much had changed in the Tower while they were gone: Everything was still deathly silent. The pair found everyone, even those who were unconscious when they left, in front of the bathroom that Starfire still occupied.  
"Come on Starfire," Beast boy was calling through the door when they arrived. "It's not that big a deal, is it?"  
A high-pitched wail from the other side was his only answer.  
The green boy was silenced by an angry look from Robin and knocked away by Cyborg, "Starfire," Robin began, "We don't blame you for what happened. You did what you had to do. You saved our lives." He called through the door as gently as he could and still be heard.  
There was a retching sound on the other side of the door. "Robin... my friends," Starfire's weak voice was heard, "You have always been kind to me, but I have committed an unforgivable atrocity." There was a pause. "Even the food of ten days ago rejects me now."  
Cyborg looked helplessly to Robin, "How about some of that pudding stuff you told me she made. The recipe's still in the kitchen."  
Robin shuddered in spite of the situation, "Thanks," He said, "But I don't think that would help."  
Without saying a word Alex, still in demon form, walked up to the door. The boys were about to stop him when Raven raised a hand. Robin took a moment but backed away and had the others do the same.  
Caspia nodded to them in thanks then called his blade to his hand. A quick slash later and a deep gash was cut in the door that he grabbed with both hands. The young man was nowhere near Cyborg's league in terms of strength, but he had enough to force the door back into the wall.  
Starfire shrieked as he entered the bathroom with her. The girl looked awful: her eyes were red and swollen, deep tear streaks marred her face, she looked pale and sickly, and the whole room, her included, smelled of bile.  
The half-demon put on a mean face and stormed towards Starfire, "Starfire!" He yelled, "The next time you get it in your head to kill a demon, do it right!" He held up his clawed right hand, still covered nearly to the elbow in blood, "I don't want to have to clean up your mess again." With that he turned and walked out.  
As he passed the doorway Beast Boy jumped at him, "Dude! She's had a rough day, why don't you... mmph!"  
Cyborg had run up and clamped his hand over his much smaller friend, "Don't mind him, he's just an idiot." He turned to Beast Boy, "Quiet down and I'll let you go, okay?" Beast Boy nodded and was released.  
Caspia nodded slightly to the other two boys, both of whom were smiling now, and walked away down the hall, most likely to another bathroom for a shower. Raven watched him go.  
Robin moved to see into the bathroom, but was knocked off his feet by a green and purple flash. "Robin!" Starfire cried as she hit him, "I am not a murderer!" Then she kissed him. Raven was sure she saw a shudder from their leader, that couldn't have tasted good, but he seemed happy anyway.  
It never ceased to amaze Raven how fast things could return to normal in the Tower. Already Beast Boy and Cyborg were fighting again, Starfire and Robin were a happy couple again and she... Raven had no idea what was next.  
She looked at the spot where Alex had disappeared down the hallway. She hadn't realized it before and wasn't even sure when it started, but she had begun seeing him as a father figure, and unless she was mistake, the feeling was mutual. Even though it had only been two days since they'd actually met, but they had been very special days.  
It would be all too soon when he was gone, a few days and he'd move on. A few months and he'd be dead. Then what would she do? After all she'd seen there was no way she could do nothing. Would the Titans even miss her? She watched the happy scene a moment more, as usual she was on the outside looking in.  
Without a word she slipped away into the shadows of the hall.

* * *

Okay, the next one will take some time, other than an epilogue it's the last one, though it may end up being split like what happened with the three chapters starting with bedside manner. Don't know yet. 


End file.
